A man was found guilty Friday of stabbing three little girls to death in Clinton, Maryland, in 2017.
Antonio Shareek Williams, who was 25 at the time of the murders, was charged with killing his sister, 6-year-old Nadiara Janae Withers, and two cousins: 6-year-old Ajayah Royale DeCree and 9-year-old Ariana Elizabeth DeCree in August of 2017. Investigators said Williams gave a full confession to the killings.
A jury found Williams guilty of three counts of first-degree murder in the girls' deaths on Friday — more than five years after the brutal killings.
"I'm just happy these three innocent lives got the justice they deserve," Kenneth Withers, the father of Nadiara Withers, said after the verdict.
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"They should be enjoying their lives, pursuing their dreams, yet they were killed by a family member," Prince George's County State's Attorney Aisha Braveboy said.
Williams' mother left him in their home on Brooke Jane Drive to watch over the girls while she went to work an overnight nursing shift. When the mother returned home the following morning, she discovered the girls in their beds, suffering from stab wounds.
Prosecutors argued Williams got annoyed that the girls were making noise, and running up and down the steps at the home. He grabbed a knife from the kitchen, stabbed them in a downstairs bedroom, then put the knife away and pretended he didn’t know what happened, prosecutors said.
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Williams cleaned up the scene and knife with bleach and washed his bloody clothes, but they found enough DNA evidence to link him to the stabbings, according to prosecutors.
Williams faces three life sentences without the possibility of parole. His sentencing is schedule for May.
