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The Hall Twins: When Family Bonds Turn Fatal · The Breakfast Club

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: This episode contains graphic depictions of violence, murder, and disturbing
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: content involving the death of a minor.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: The case discussed.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Involves ongoing legal proceedings and family conflicts.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Listener discretion is strongly advised.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: This is the story of Shamaya and Troy Shea Hall,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: identical twin sisters who, in separate incidents just two years apart.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: would both be charged with murdering their own children.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: It's a story that challenges everything we think about family
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: and the protective systems designed to keep children safe. It's
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: a case that raises uncomfortable questions about nature versus nurture,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: mental illness, and whether evil can somehow be embedded in
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: our very own DNA. Chapter 1. The Perfect Storm in Italy, Texas.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Our story begins on a seemingly ordinary Friday afternoon, March 3rd, 2023,
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: in the small town of Italy, Texas. With a population
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: of just over 2,800 people, Italy is the kind of
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: place where everyone knows everyone, and tragedy like what was
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: about to unfold simply doesn't happen. At approximately 4 p.m.,
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: emergency dispatchers received a call that would shatter this quiet
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: community forever. According to the Ellis County Sheriff's Office, a
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Child Protective Services caseworker had made what should have been
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: a routine visit to a home on Harris Street. But
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: what she discovered would haunt her and the responding officers
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: for the rest of their lives. According to reporting by
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: CBS Texas, The CPS worker had come to remove five
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: children from the home where they were staying with a relative.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: The children, ranging in ages from just 13 months to
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: six years old, were supposed to be in temporary custody,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: living away from their biological mother, 25-year-old Shamaya Dayanshana Hall.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: But something had gone terribly wrong. Italy police arrived on
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: the scene at 4.05 p.m., just five minutes after the
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: 911 call. What they found inside that modest home would
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: become one of the most horrific crime scenes in Ellis
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: County history. NBC5 Dallas-Fort Worth reported that officers discovered all
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: five children had been stabbed. Three of them, a six-year-old
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: boy and twin five-year-olds, a girl and a boy, were
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: already dead. The two survivors... A four-year-old boy and a
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: 13-month-old were rushed to different hospitals, one to Cook Children's
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: in Fort Worth, the other to Children's Hospital in Dallas,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: both fighting for their lives. The children's names, as later
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: revealed by Dallas News, were Aaliyah, Aiden, and Legend, names
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: that would soon be remembered by balloons released into the
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: stormy Texas sky by a grieving community. Chapter 2. A
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Mother's Unthinkable Act. As investigators processed the horrific crime scene,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: the question that haunted everyone was simply yet incomprehensible.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: How could a mother do this to her own children?
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: According to Law and Crime, the attack occurred as the
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: CPS caseworker was attempting to remove the children from the home.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: The timing wasn't coincidental. WFAA-TV reported that the worker had
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: made an unannounced visit because they suspected Shamaya Hall was
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: having unauthorized, unsupervised contact with her children.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: Picture this scene.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: A CPS worker arrives at what should be a safe haven,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: a relative's home where these five young children had been
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: placed for their protection. She's there to do her job,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: to ensure these kids are safe. But instead, she walks
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: into a nightmare. The details, as reported by multiple outlets,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: including the U.S. Sun and Crime Online, paint a picture
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: of unimaginable violence. These weren't accidental injuries or a momentary
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: lapse in judgment. This was a sustained, deliberate attack on
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: five defenseless children by the one person who should have
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: protected them.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: Above all others. their mother.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Shamaya Hall was arrested that same evening and charged with
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: three counts of capital murder. Her bond was set at
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: $ 2 million per charge, a total of $ 6 million, and
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: later increased to $ 10 million. But as investigators began digging
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: into Hall's background, they would uncover something that made this
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: case even more disturbing.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: Chapter 3. The Other Twin.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: As news of the Italy-Texas tragedy spread, a detail emerged
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: that would transform this from a shocking but isolated incident
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: into something far more sinister and unprecedented. Shamaya Hall had
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: a twin sister, and that twin sister, Troy Shea Monet Hall,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: was already in custody for a remarkably similar crime.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: According to the Christian.
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  Speaker 1: Post and MEAWW, less than two years before Shamaya's attack,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: Troishe Hall had been arrested for stabbing her own seven-year-old
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: daughter to death in South Dallas. The date was June 17th, 2021.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Court documents obtained by multiple news outlets reveal a scene
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: of chaos and horror. Troishe's mother was in the bathroom
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: when she heard screaming. Her son, Trochet's brother ran to
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: tell her that Trochet had stabbed his friend in another bathroom.
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  Speaker 2: But the violence wasn't over.
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  Speaker 1: According to Miao's reporting, Trochet's mother and brother tried desperately
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: to get the knife away from her. But she escaped
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: their grasp. That's when she found her seven-year-old daughter. The
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: autopsy reports, as reported across multiple outlets, were devastating. the
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: little girl had suffered more than 30 stab wounds. Troy
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Shea was arrested and charged with murder. But here's where
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: the story takes another dark turn. According to Dallas County
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: court records cited by Law and Crime, Troy Shea was
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: found incompetent to stand trial on October 12th, 2021. She
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: was committed to North Texas State Hospital for inpatient psychiatric treatment,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: where she remains today.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: Chapter four, a pattern of violence.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: As investigators and journalists dug deeper into the Hall sisters past,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: a disturbing pattern began to emerge. One that suggested these
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: weren't isolated incidents, but part of a longer history of violence.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: According to Dallas News and ABC 7 Los Angeles, Both
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: sisters had been arrested together in 2017 for an incident
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: involving Troy Shea's ex-boyfriend. The details found in arrest warrant
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: affidavits point a picture of calculated intimidation and assault. On
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: May 23rd, 2017, Troy Shea sent threatening text messages to
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: her ex-boyfriend, indicating that she was going.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: To attack him.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: Shamaya was with her twin sister, when they headed to
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: the ex-boyfriend's sister's apartment in South Dallas. When the man
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: saw the sisters at his door, he tried to slam
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: it shut, but it was too late. According to court
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: documents cited by MIAW, Troy Shea grabbed his shirt while
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: Shamaya pepper-sprayed him directly in the face. When he went
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: into the bathroom to wash the pepper spray from his eyes,
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: he emerged to find Troy Shea waving a knife at him,
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: pulling it from her bra and shouting, run up, run up.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: The arrest warrant affidavit, as reported by Dallas News, noted
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: that Shamaya pulled out a knife from her bra and
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: began waving it at the complainant. Though it appears this
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: detail may refer to Troy Shea, as there's some confusion
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: in the reporting about which sister had the knife. What's
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: clear is that both sisters were charged with aggravated assault
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: with a deadly weapon. This wasn't a crime of passion
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: or a moment of poor judgment. This was premeditated, coordinated violence.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: The Hall sisters' case raises questions that make us deeply uncomfortable.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: How is it possible that identical twins sharing the same
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: DNA and presumably similar upbringing could both become child killers?
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: Born on July 11th, 1997, according to Dallas County Jail
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Records cited by Law and Crime, Shamaya and Troy Shea
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: Hall entered this world together. They shared more than just
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: a birthday. They shared identical genetic material, the same family environment,
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: likely the same schools, friends, and formative experiences. Yet both
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: would grow up to commit the most heinous crime imaginable,
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: the murder of their own children. Twin studies have long
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: fascinated criminologists and psychologists. While there's evidence that genetic factors
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: can predispose individuals to antisocial behavior, environmental factors typically play
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: the determining role in whether those predispositions manifest as criminal acts.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: But what happens when twin sisters share both the same
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: genetic predisposition and the same toxic environment? the Hall sisters
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: didn't just share DNA. They shared a pattern of escalating violence,
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: from coordinated assault in 2017 to separate but remarkably similar
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: acts of child murder in 2021 and 2023. One of
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: the most heartbreaking aspects of the Hall twins' case is
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: how it exposes the limitations of our child protection systems.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: According to NBC5 Dallas-Fort Worth, the children killed by Shamaya
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Hall were not living with her at the time of
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: the attack. They had been placed in kinship care with
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: a relative, a system designed to keep children safe while
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: maintaining family connections. The Texas Department of Family and Protective
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: Services defines kinship care as placing abused or neglected children
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: with relatives or close friends rather than in foster care
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: with strangers. It's generally considered the preferred option when children
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: cannot remain safely with their parents. But the system failed
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: these children. Despite being in protective custody, despite CPS oversight,
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: despite having a caseworker checking on their welfare, three young
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: children still died at their mother's hands. The CPS worker
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: who discovered the scene that day was doing exactly what
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: she was supposed to do. According to multiple reports, she
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: had made an unannounced visit because she suspected unauthorized contact
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: between Shamaya and her children. She called for help immediately
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: when she realized something was wrong. But it was too late.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Family and Protective
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: Services told NBC5, we are shocked by this incomprehensible tragedy
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: and are already working with law enforcement to investigate how
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: this happened and why. The father of one of the
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: murdered children told NBC5 that his child's death was preventable.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: His words hang heavy with grief and accusation. If the
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: system had worked better, if the supervision had been tighter,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: If someone had seen the warning signs, maybe three children
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: would still be alive. Stick around to hear more on
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: bloodline crimes after this brief break. Welcome back to Bloodline Crimes.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: Let's continue our story. Chapter 7. A Community in Mourning
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: The town of Italy, Texas, Population 2,800 was unprepared for
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: the tragedy that struck on that March afternoon in 2023.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: Rachel L. Kistner, superintendent of Italy Independent School District, released
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: a statement that captured the community's shock. Italy ISD is
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: deeply saddened by the tragedy that occurred off-campus this evening.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: Words cannot express how the overwhelming grief felt by the
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: district and the community hearing of such a tragedy. We
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: are a tight-knit, small community, and as such, many students
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: will be impacted by this incident. According to Dallas News,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: dozens of community members braved stormy weather on Thursday night
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: to honor the three murdered children. They gathered to pray
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: together and released balloons for Aaliyah, Aiden, and Legend. A
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: simple but powerful gesture in a community struggling to comprehend
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: the incomprehensible. Multiple North Texas districts asked students to wear
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: gold and black, Italy ISD's colors, to show support for
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: the grieving community. Toys and bicycles photographed by Dallas News
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: remain scattered around the crime scene home. Silent testaments to
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: the young lives that had been cut short. These weren't
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: just statistics or names in a police report. They were
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: children who had played with those toys, ridden those bikes,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: laughed and cried and dreamed of growing up. The Hall twins'
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: case forces us to confront uncomfortable questions about mental illness,
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: evil behavior, and personal responsibility. Troy Shea Hall was found
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: incompetent to stand trial and committed to North Texas State
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: Hospital for psychiatric treatment. According to their website, the facility
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: provides inpatient psychiatric services to adults, children, and adolescents. Court
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: documents suggest that after stabbing her daughter, Troy Shea told
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: officers the child was being sexually abused. though it's unclear
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: whether these claims were ever verified. Miao reported that neighbors
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: said Troy Shea had recently returned from a psychiatric facility
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: before the attack. But what about Shamaya? There's no indication
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: in the court records or news reports that she was
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: receiving mental health treatment or had been found incompetent to
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: stand trial. She was charged with capital murder. and held
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: accountable for her actions in a way her twin sister
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: was not. This raises difficult questions. Are we looking at
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: two sisters with identical mental health issues that manifested differently?
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: Or are we seeing one sister with severe mental health
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: illness and another who chose evil? One neighbor, quoted in
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: the Christian Post, said after Troy Shea's attack, It's just
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: shocking because I know they say the devil is alive.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: I think he is.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: But mental illness experts would caution against demonizing these cases,
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: while the actions are inexcusable and the consequences devastating. Understanding
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: the underlying factors, whether genetic, environmental, or psychological, is crucial
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: for prevention. Chapter 9 the legal proceedings. As of the
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: most recent reporting, the legal cases against both Hall sisters
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: remain unresolved, though they've taken very different paths. Jamiah Hall
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: was initially charged with three counts of capital murder, with
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: bond set.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: At $ 6 million.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: According to Dallas News, two additional aggravated assault charges were
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: later added, and her total bond.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: Increased to $ 10 million.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: It's unclear from the available reporting whether Hall has secured
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: legal representation or how she's pleaded to the charges. Meanwhile,
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: Troy Shea Hall remains in psychiatric custody at North Texas
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: State Hospital. Having been found incompetent to stand trial in 2021,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: she cannot face criminal charges until and unless her mental
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: state improves to the point where she can understand why
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: the proceedings against her, and assist in her own defense.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: This two-track system, one sister facing the death penalty while
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: the other receives psychiatric treatment, highlights the complex intersection of
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: mental health and criminal justice. Both sisters committed remarkably similar crimes,
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: but the legal system has responded to them very differently
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: based on their assessed mental capacity. Chapter 10 the survivors
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: and the questions that remain. As we near the end
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: of our examination of this case, we must remember that
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: this story isn't over. Two children survived Shamaya Hall's attack,
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: a four-year-old boy and a 13-month-old girl who will have
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: to grow up with both physical and psychological scars from
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: that terrible day. The reporting from various outlets indicates both
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: children were hospitalized with stab wounds, though their current conditions
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: and long-term prognosis remain private, as they should be. These
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: children will grow up knowing that their mother tried to
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: kill them and succeeded in killing their siblings. They'll live
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: with questions that have no satisfactory answers. Why did this happen?
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: Could it have been prevented? Are they safe now? The
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: Hall twins case also leaves us with broader questions. that
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: our society must grapple with. How do we better identify
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: and treat mental illness before it leads to violence? How
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: do we improve our child protection systems to truly protect
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: the most vulnerable? How do we balance public safety with
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: family preservation? And perhaps, most disturbingly, can evil be inherited?
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: And if so, what does that mean for how we
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: understand free will and moral responsibility? The story of Shamaya
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: and Troy Shea Hall challenges our most basic assumptions about family, love,
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: and protection. These weren't strangers who harmed children. These were
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: mothers who destroyed the lives they had brought into the world.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: The case has been covered extensively by major news outlets
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: from CBS Texas to Law and Crime to Dallas Publications.
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: To National True Crime Media.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: It was even featured on Swellcast in an episode specifically
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: dedicated to the killer twin sisters who murdered their children.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: Each outlet has tried to make sense of the senseless.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: To find explanations for the inexplicable. But perhaps that's the
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: most disturbing aspect of the case. Sometimes there aren't satisfactory explanations.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: Sometimes evil exists in forms we can't understand or predict.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: As this case continues through the legal system, as the
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: survivors hopefully heal and find safety, as the community of Italy,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: Texas rebuilds from tragedy, we're left with the name's that
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: matter most, Aaliyah, Aiden, and Legend, three children whose lives
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: were cut short, but whose memory demands that.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: We do better.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: If this case teaches us anything, it's that the systems
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: designed to protect children must be constantly vigilant, constantly improving,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: and constantly remembering that behind every case file is a
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: child who deserves safety, love, and the.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: Chance to grow up.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: You've been listening to Bloodline Crimes, a Black Effect original podcast.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: This episode was written by Tamika Younger and produced by
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: Adam Avalos.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: I'm your host, Morgan Wood.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: If you or someone you know is struggling with violence, grief,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: or family conflict, help is available. The National Domestic Violence
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: Hotline is available 24-7 at 1-800-799-7233. The National Suicide Prevention
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: Lifeline is available 24-7 at 988. And the Crisis Text
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: Line is available by texting HOME to 741741. Next week,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: We'll explore another case where family bonds become deadly ties.
• 23:02
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• 23:06
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