Shaneice Weighlihham: Florida Mother Charged After Allegedly Trying to Drown Her Three Children in Community Pool

on


A Florida mother is facing multiple charges after prosecutors say she tried to drown herself and her three young children in a community pool.

According to PEOPLE, the ugly incident happened during the early hours of Wednesday, September 24, 2025.

Authorities allege that 24-year-old Shaniece Willingham livestreamed the chilling moments before the incident on Instagram.

She reportedly told viewers it was her “last goodbye” before pushing her children — ages 3, 2, and 8 months — into the deep end of a Valrico pool.


According to court documents, the incident began after Willingham and her children’s father, Theophilus Williams, got into a heated argument while she was at her mother’s home in Valrico. 

After the call ended, Willingham and her mother, Sherrisse McCray then got into another altercation, and her mother eventually asked her to leave. 

Willingham then called Williams again, and asked him to come pick up the children, so that she can figure herself out. He refused, and allegedly told her he “doesn’t give a f--- and he ain’t doing anything.”

Frustrated and without a plan, Willingham loaded her children into a wagon and walked them to the community pool on Sacramento Street. 

While on the way, she posted videos on her Instagram story, claiming she felt helpless and could no longer care for her children.

In the chilling video, “she said it was her last goodbye and she could not take it anymore,” prosecutors stated in a motion for pretrial detention.

According to investigators, Willingham also told her viewers she “loved her kids so much” but believed “no one can take care of them, and they would be safe with God.”

Once at the pool, she FaceTimed her mother to show her location before using a rope to bind herself and the children together. 

She then pushed herself and the children into the deep end of the pool, which was marked as six feet deep.

Prosecutors also noted that neither Willingham nor her children could swim, as per Law&Crime. 



Family members who saw the Instagram livestream rushed to the pool and managed to pull Willingham and the children out before it was too late. 

Sheriff’s deputies arrived around 1:30 a.m. and found the children suffering from serious injuries.

Sheriff Chad Chronister condemned the act, calling it “nothing short of horrific.”

“The fear and betrayal these innocent children must have felt at the hands of the one person meant to love, care for, and protect them is unimaginable,” Chronister said in a statement. 

“This decision was not a cry for help; it was a deliberate act of cruelty. Mental health challenges may provide an explanation, but there is no excuse, no justification,” he added.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Willingham has been charged with three counts of first-degree premeditated attempted murder.

She was ordered to be held without bond and is scheduled for apretrial detention hearing on September 29, 2025.

If convicted, she faces the possibility of spending a long time in prison. 

For more details on this case and other high-profile true crime cases sign up for our free newsletter here.


Comments

Post a Comment