This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Two men appeared in court on murder charges on Saturday, after two women and two children were found dead just before Christmas in their apartment in upstate New York.

Justin Mann and James White pleaded not guilty to first- and second-degree murder charges in front of a judge in Troy, New York. Both were from nearby Schenectady. Mann appeared to break down as he was led out of court to return to the county jail, according to the local Times Union newspaper.

The two men are charged in the deaths of Brandi Mells, 22, and Shanta Myers, 36, and Myers’s 11-year-old son Jeremiah and five-year-old daughter Shanise. Their bodies were found in a basement apartment near the Hudson River in the town just north of the New York state capital, Albany, on 21 December.

The two women were engaged to be married. Troy police chief John Tedesco said one of the defendants knew one of the victims, according to the Times Union.

The victims were found by a property manager the day after Christmas Day, after concerned relatives asked for help because they could not reach the women.

All four victims had their wrists and ankles bound and their throats cut, according to information provided by anonymous law enforcement sources to the Times Union. Two blood-stained knives were found at the scene by the police, the newspaper said.

Tedesco said earlier this week he had “never seen savagery like this” in 42 years in law enforcement. On Saturday, after the court hearing, he said it was a great relief to have arrested the two men, who both have criminal records.

“I don’t have to tell you what a good feeling it is to have these two in custody,” he said.

Tedesco would not discuss motive.

These two women were slaughtered, it’s tragic, and we wanted to step up Charlie Muller, church pastor

Before the arrests were made, relatives including a surviving 15-year-old son of Myers paid tribute to the murdered women and begged for information. A local church, Victory Christian Church, offered a $10,000 reward for any information prompting the capture of the killer or killers.



The church pastor, Charlie Muller, told the Guardian on Saturday he did not yet know if anyone had helped the police during their investigation, but said the reward would be paid if it turned out there had been a tip that solved the crime.

Muller said the church distributed meals in low-income areas in Albany, Troy and Schenectady. He had been out in the Myers family’s neighborhood in recent months, he said, although he did not know if he had fed Myers’s children or met the couple.

“I know some of their relatives,” he said. “These two women were slaughtered, it’s tragic, and we wanted to step up.”

Tedesco said on Saturday the authorities did not expect to make any other arrests in connection with the murders.

Mann, 24, was on parole when he was arrested. He and White, 38, are due back in court on 4 January.