Tacony mother charged with murdering her 18-month-old twins

Police charged a 41-year-old Tacony woman Friday with murdering her 18-month-old twin children, an act police sources said was apparently brought on by learning that her husband was having an affair with one of her close relatives.

Stacey Smalls, a former corrections officer who most recently worked at a nursing home in the Northeast, suffocated her children and also drowned her daughter Thursday, police said. She also is expected to face charges for attempting to kill her 4-year-old daughter by giving her a poisoned drink, said Philadelphia Capt. James Clark of the homicide unit. But the girl became suspicious and stopped drinking it.

"She's apparently an extremely bright little girl," Clark said Friday. "It didn't taste right to her."

Police have not said what Smalls used to spike the child's drink. The girl was taken to St. Christopher's Hospital for Children for observation. She is in stable condition and is expected to be returned to her father soon, Clark said Friday.

Smalls and her husband, Ronald Smalls, were married in December 2010, about a month and a half after the birth of the twins, according to posts on Stacey Smalls' Facebook account. Stacey Smalls learned of the affair earlier this month, sources said, and on May 19, Smalls changed her Facebook relationship status to "divorced" and posted a picture she found online of a car spray-painted with the words "hope she was worth it."

Smalls left notes near the children's bodies, sources said, citing her husband's betrayal as the reason she killed their children. Smalls then attempted to kill herself by taking pills and cutting her wrists, police said. When police entered the house, Smalls told them, "I harmed my babies."

She was hospitalized Thursday but has been released and was being interviewed by police Friday. Clark said he was not aware of Smalls having any history of mental problems or postpartum depression.

Ronald Smalls had returned to his home on Friday but did not answer his door. Stacey Smalls also has an adult daughter from a previous relationship who does not live in the area.

Neighbors of the Smalls were still in shock a day after the killings. Residents of Ditman Street near Levick, a quiet block lined with nondescript two-story homes with concrete front porches, said that they didn't know the Smallses well but that the parents were hardworking and appeared devoted to their children. The toddlers were just learning to walk, neighbors said, and the 4-year-old was polite, pleasant, and well-behaved.

Stacey Smalls, who often worked nights, was often seen playing with the children in front of the house. But some neighbors said that she seemed unhappy, and that they suspected there were problems in the marriage.

"She looked miserable a lot," neighbor Rashanda Mitchell said. "She never smiled."

Several people said Ronald Smalls had a quick temper: He sometimes yelled at children who played on his front lawn, got into disputes with neighbors about parking, and was known for calling the police for infractions that other neighbors deemed minor. But another neighbor, who declined to give his name, said Ronald Smalls just wanted to keep the street nice.

"Whatever was going on between them, I never expected this," the neighbor said. "To me, it looked like their kids were everything to them."

A chilling scene unfolded Thursday afternoon around 4:10 as Ronald Smalls returned from his job as a corrections officer and entered an oddly silent house. Neighbors soon saw police cars and an ambulance arrive and watched as the 4-year-old girl was brought out and driven away. Not long after, Mitchell said, police officers brought Stacey Smalls out in handcuffs.

"That's when I saw them put up police tape, and I just kept thinking, where are those kids?" Michell said.

Teresa Venziale, who lives down the street, watched in horror as officers brought out two small bodies, swaddled in bedsheets.

"They cradled them in their arms," Venziale said. "It was heartbreaking. ... I had to look away."