LI Mom Who Murdered Her Twins, 2, Sentenced To 20 Years To Life: DA

MONTAUK, NY — A Medford woman who pleaded guilty in December to murdering her twin daughters, 2, in 2019, was sentenced Monday, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney.

Tenia Campbell, 28, was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison; she pleaded guilty in December, 2023 to two counts of first-degree murder after suffocating her twin 2-year-old daughters to death in June 2019.

"These two young lives were cut short by the one person who was supposed to love and protect them," Tierney. "Although the 20-year sentence here resolves this sad case, it will not bring back these girls."

According to court documents and Campbell's admission during her plea allocution, on June 27, 2019, at about 2:37 p.m., Campbell’s mother called 911 to report that Campbell was driving around in the family van and was threatening to kill her daughters. Law enforcement launched a large-scale search for Campbell and her daughters between the areas of Medford and Montauk, the DA said.

At about 4:00 p.m., an East Hampton police officer spotted the van just off Montauk Highway, a few miles west of Montauk Point, Tierney said.

When the officer approached, she saw Campbell outside the van; he officer walked over to the
van and saw Campbell’s two-year old twin daughters dead in their car seats, Tierney said. Campbell later admitted to smothering the girls to death, the DA added.

On December 13, 2023, Campbell pleaded guilty before Supreme Court Justice Richard Ambro, to two counts of first-degree murder, a Class A violent felony, Tierney said.

According to court documents, Campbell was slated for a sentencing after an initial sentencing date in December was adjourned. She is expected to be sentenced to 20 years to life in prison, Tierney said. She was represented by John Halverson, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to numerous reports at the time of the murders, Campbell was emotionally distraught when she called her mother on June 27 from the car and told her that she'd killed her babies "with her bare hands" and wanted to join them in heaven.

Suffolk Police, assisted by New York State Police, Suffolk County park rangers, Southampton Town Police and East Hampton Town Police joined the massive effort to locate her. East Hampton officers located Campbell on the road at the entrance of the Montauk County Park Third House Nature Center, police said. The officers took Campbell into custody and attempted lifesaving efforts on her two children.

A Newsday report at the time said Campbell had a history of mental illness and was overwhelmed with raising the twins and her older son. "All Tenia would say was that, 'It's too late. I killed my babies and now I have to be with them,'" the Newsday article reported that Vanessa McQueen, of Mastic Beach, said, according to the court records.

McQueen's statement added: "At one point she said she was going to find the ocean and walk into it and drown so she could be with my babies in Heaven," according to Pix 11. That report, and multiple others, said that the frantic mom allegedly said she had killed the toddlers with her "bare hands" before asking to die by police fire as she was found walking on the road near the Montauk park where her children were found, strapped into their car seats.

During a three-way call lasting nearly 12 minutes, Campbell, a home healthcare aid, was "at times hysterical" and would not reveal her location, then-Suffolk County Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart said at a news conference, according to an ABC News report.

According to Suffolk County Police, Jasmine and Jaida Campbell were found at the Montauk County Park Third House Nature Center on Montauk Highway Thursday at 4:05 p.m.

Campbell was brought into her arraignment at East Hampton Town Justice Court sobbing, using her shirt to cover her face.

Then-Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone spoke at a press conference and said as a father of three young children, the twins' deaths were "incomprehensible. . .unimaginable and beyond tragic."

On social media, Campbell said a year before the murders that raising the girls caused stress. "In they (sic) first year they have manage to stress me out to maximum capacity and still make me extremely happy," she wrote on her Facebook page. "Such a blessing and a headache it is to have twins. I love you girls till the death of me."

"This is such a sad and tragic case. Those two little girls looked to this defendant, their mother, for protection and love. Instead, she executed them," Tierney said. "The defendant has one thing those twin girls will never have again: life. But now, this defendant will get to live out the majority of her life behind bars."