TROY - Two Schenectady men were arraigned on murder charges Saturday following the brutal slayings of two women and two children.

Justin C. Mann and James W. White were each charged with first-degree murder and four counts of second-degree murder, according to police.

The victims were slain at about 9 p.m. on Dec. 21, according to details revealed at Saturday's court proceedings. The four victims were found in the basement of 158 Second Ave. on Tuesday by the apartment's property manager, who had been contacted by the mother of one of the victims who told him that she had not heard from her daughter since before Christmas.

Mann, 24, of 627 Hamilton St. and White, 38, of 850 Albany St. pleaded not guilty in Troy City Court as several family members of the victims looked on. Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel Abelove was also present.

Mann appeared to break down as he was led out of court. The suspects were sent to the Rensselaer County Jail pending their next court appearance on Thursday, Jan. 4.



Mann has an attorney from the conflict-defender's office, although it was not immediately clear why he could not be represented by the public defender's office.

Shanta Myers, 36, Brandi Mells, 22, and two of Myers' three children — Shanise Myers, 5, and Jeremiah "JJ" Myers, 11 — were found tied up and slashed to death in their apartment.

"I don't need to tell you how good it feels to have these two defendants in custody," Troy Police Chief John Tedesco said at the news conference, reflecting a sense of relief many in the community, especially family members, expressed.

Tedesco said the two were apprehended without incident at 627 Hamilton St. in Schenectady, where Mann lives.

According to law enforcement sources, the two men were taken into custody in Schenectady late Friday as detectives worked to secure search warrants in connection with the investigation.

Police from Troy and Schenectady as well as other agencies began focusing on the pair, in part, after reviewing footage from security cameras in Troy, the sources said. It's unclear if the suspects used public transportation. Capital District Transportation Authority buses are equipped with high-resolution video cameras.

According to details of the investigation shared with the Times Union, police officers discovered all four victims had their hands and ankles bound and appeared to have had their throats cut. The two children were found together in a kneeling position with their heads and chests on a bed. The body of one of the women was on a mattress on the floor, and the fourth victim was nearby, also face down but covered with a sheet.

Police recovered a knife with blood on both the handle and the blade located on a ledge near a closet close to the victims. They also found a second knife on a bed near the victims, who were all in close proximity.

Still, outside law enforcement, many questions remain unanswered. During the 15- minute news conference, authorities did not provide the details of what led them to Mann and White, saying only technology played a big part. They would not say how the men knew each other or the relationship between them and the four victims, other than to say one of the defendants knew one of the victims.

They also did not say whether they had determined a motive for the slayings. "The investigation is still ongoing and that's one of the things that we're looking for," Tedesco said.

Police did say they do not expect any further arrests to be made.

Authorities said both men have records and Mann is on parole. A Justin Mann was paroled on a robbery conviction in June from a Queens prison, according to the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

Tedesco thanked many of the agencies involved as well as the public for giving them tips.

Relief, to a degree

More than two dozen people were in court Saturday, some wearing Troy Boys & Girls club sweatshirts. One woman broke down as Mann, the first defendant, was led in to the courtroom. As they left, a man was visibly upset as friends helped him out. Neither man said anything as charges were read.

Family members of the homicide victims had urged people to come forward with information on who may have taken the lives of the two women and two children.

Keith McCutchen, Mells' uncle, said "it was a relief" to his family to know that arrests had been made after the slaying of his niece, whom he called "Sweetie Bird" since Mells was a toddler growing up in New Jersey.

"She was such an easygoing, loving person," he said. "I can imagine the look in her eyes when this was happening, like 'Why would anyone do this to me?'"

Murder charges First-degree murder carries a penalty of life in prison without parole upon conviction. Second-degree murder carries a penalty of a maximum of 25 to life in prison. See More Collapse

As of Saturday afternoon, a GoFundMe campaign had raised more than $31,000 for the Myers family. The money will be used to provide mental health services for the family and to set up a scholarship and provide resources for Isaiah Smith, Myers' 15-year-old son and the sole survivor in the family, according to the campaign.

Sharonda Bennett, Mells' cousin, had plans to move from New Jersey to Troy with her husband and children to be closer to Mells and her new family. Mells and Myers got engaged earlier this year and Myers' kids got along with Bennett's children, she said Friday.

"I'm extremely happy and relieved (about the arrests)," Bennett said in a phone interview on Saturday. She was worried about the safety of other family members and relatives, including Isaiah Smith. On Thursday, Smith said he was scared to go to the corner store. "I'm not sure if they're coming for me next," he said.

Relatives and families of the victims are "traumatized," Bennett said Saturday.

"(Brandi's) smile, her laugh and her heart will not be forgotten," she said. "She will be so missed."

Tedesco said the arrests were the result of work by several law enforcement agencies, including Troy and Schenectady police, State Police Major Crimes, Forensics and Technology units, the Albany branch of the FBI, the Rensselaer County Sheriff's department and the Capital Region Crime Analysis Center.

"The savagery and barbarism of what happened to these people has been well-reported on by now," District Attorney Abelove said at the news conference. "Our hearts go out to the victims and their families. They've suffered an unspeakable loss, they're trying to gets their heads around; as is most of the public."