Memphis Mother Charged With Brutally Killing Her Four Children With Kitchen Knife

A Memphis Tennessee mother has been charged in the harrowing murders of her four young children. Police officers responding to the brutal scene claim Shaynthia Gardner, 29, cut the throats of her three daughters and one son –all under five years of age, Friday.

Crime scene investigators recovered a bloody butcher’s knife, which they say Gardner used to kill her four, three, two and six-month-old children. A fifth child, aged seven, was able to escape the deadly mayhem and is being held at a “safe location until a next of kin can be notified,” according to Shelby County Sheriff Bill Oldham.

According to CNN, Oldham stated that Shaynthia Gardner was “charged with four counts of first-degree murder in perpetration of a felony aggravated child neglect, four counts of first-degree murder in perpetration of a felony aggravated child abuse, four counts of aggravated child neglect or endangerment and four counts of aggravated child abuse.”

According to Oldham, other charges may be filed.

Following an interview conducted by the Shelby County Sheriff’s office, the children’s father was determined to not have been present at the time of the grisly acts. The children were found deceased inside an apartment at the Greens at Irene complex in southeast Shelby County.

Neighbors of Gardner and her deceased children expressed shock at the horrific crime that transpired in their apartment building. One apartment complex resident had the following to say to local reporters.

“I can’t imagine what those babies do to make you do that,” Trisha Johnson told WMC. “If you’re having trouble, go and say you’re having trouble. Everybody gets stressed out. Kids are home from school, you don’t know what to do with them, you have no money to do with them, but you don’t take their lives.”

The names of the slain children have been identified as four-year-old Tallen Gardner; three-year-old Syla Gardner; two-year-old Sahvi Gardner and six-month-old Yahzi Gardner. The seven-year-old child who managed to flee to safety was identified as Dallen Clayton, a child from a previous marriage.

According to an affidavit, Shaynthia Gardner admitted to the killings via telephone conversation with husband Martin Gardner. Mrs. Gardner was found at the crime scene with superficial cuts to her neck and wrists. Gardner’s children were listing as having suffered severe throat lacerations.

The Sheriff’s department was contacted when Dallen notified a neighbor of the savage events. After her son reported the attacks, Shaynthia Gardner was seen pacing frantically outside, and then back inside her apartment while wielding a butcher’s knife.

Even for a grizzled law enforcement veteran such as Bill Oldham, Friday’s crime was regarded as particularly unsettling and heinous.

“This is a terrible act, an egregious act that has shocked, I believe, the community, and has shocked our staff to the core.”

Neighbors of the helpless victims held a candlelight vigil at the apartment complex to honor the children and what could have become of their lives. The touching homage to the lives taken before they had a chance to unfurl was a heartbreaking scene.

As vigil attendee poignantly stated, “Like the minister said, you don’t know what they could have been in life. Their lives didn’t even get started yet, before they were taken.”

While Gardner isn’t the first mother to take the lives of her own children, her case is certainly disturbing due to the graphic nature of the criminal acts involved.

Anytime a parent harms their own children, it raises a guttural flow of negative emotion within the community at large.

Shaynthia Gardner is currently being held without bond. Her arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday.

[Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images]