Sheriff: "Mom Wanted To Get Rid Of Her Children."

Sheriff: SC Mom 'Wanted to Get Rid of Her Children'

Updated: 2 hours ago

By David Lohr and Lisa Flam AOL News

(Aug. 17) -- The mother of two toddlers found dead in their submerged car has confessed to suffocating them before she drove her car into a South Carolina river, the sheriff said today.

Orangeburg County Sheriff Larry Williams told reporters that Shaquan Duley admitted she staged the accident. Duley, who now faces murder charges, said she became distraught after fighting with her mother, according to Williams.

She suffocated her children at a motel by putting her hand over their mouths, then strapped them into their car seats and drove into the North Edisto River in Orangeburg, the sheriff said.

"We have a 29-year-old mother who was unemployed," Williams said. "She had three children to care for. She had a mother who [is] very firm [and] very realistic about being a mom. [Duley] had no way of getting provisions to the children or to assist them and ... she just wanted to get rid of her children."

On Monday, Duley told police she was involved in an accident near a rural boat landing and that her car had plummeted into the river, The Associated Press reported.

From the outset of the investigation, Williams said it was apparent that Duley was not involved in a car accident and had staged the crime scene. "We felt the story that she was telling us wasn't factual," he said.

According to the AP, Duley was initially arrested on a charge of leaving the scene of an accident.

Duley, who has no prior criminal record, was not taking any medication at the time of the deaths and police say they are considering postpartum depression as a possible factor. They also said it is too soon to determine whether the killings were premeditated.

Williams was asked by a reporter why Duley chose to stage the accident in a manner similar to that of Susan Smith -- a Union County, S.C., native who is serving life in prison for drowning her two children inside a vehicle she rolled into John D. Long Lake.

"I believe she was just riding [around] looking," Williams said. "I don't believe that she woke up and said, 'I'm going to Shillings Bridge road to get rid of her children.' I believe she was just angry, upset ... trying to find a way to discard the bodies."

As a result of the confession and other evidence obtained by investigators, Williams said, authorities have served warrants on Duley accusing her of murdering the two children. She face an arraignment Wednesday.

"This [isn't] a hardened criminal. ... This is a young lady who was in trouble," Williams said. "In trouble more ways than she realized. She was in trouble and she didn't know where to turn. ... The responsibility of being a mom was a bit much for her."