Twisted Twins: What we know about Jasmiyah and Tasmiyah Whitehead and how they killed their mom Nikki
JASMIYAH and Tasmiyah Whitehead chillingly murdered their mom, Nikki in 2010.
The twins, known as Jas and Tas to their family and friends, killed their mom in their home in Georgia.
But why did the honor roll twins commit such a heinous crime?
Life in Georgia
Jas and Tas were born on November 27, 1993, to their 18-year-old mother Nikki, whose full name was Jarmecca Yvonne Whitehead.
When Nikki turned 25 in 2000, she met 55-year-old truck driver Robert Head and the family moved into his home in Conyers, Georgia.
The twins’ talent for learning was obvious from a young age and they quickly found themselves on the school honor roll.
They were also Girl Scouts.
However, their situation at home worsened as, according to their great-grandmother Della Frazier, Nikki was often absent as a mother.
Della raised the two girls for a while but Nikki challenged her for custody.
This led to the girls getting into physical altercations, forcing them to appear in juvenile court and face counselling.
Murdering their mother
Nikki regained custody of the girls on January 5, 2010, but Jas and Tas were vehemently opposed to the decision.
They were ordered to live with their mother for a two-week trial period, but the girls murdered Nikki just over a week later, on January 13, 2010.
Lt Chris Moon of the Conyers Police Department said: “It was the bloodiest scene I think I’ve ever been to.
“As soon as you opened the door, you could smell the blood, the copper iron smell in the air.”
Nikki was found in the bath, with several stab wounds.
The twins claimed that they had discovered their mother’s body, but a medical examiner determined that the murder was likely to have been committed by someone that Nikki knew.
DNA testing cleared Nikki’s partner of suspicion.
Then, bite marks on the twins, inflicted by their mother during the fight, suggested that they were to blame.
The trial and life in prison
Jas and Tas were charged in May 2010 and initially pleaded not guilty.
However, as the evidence against them mounted, Tasmiyah pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and several other charges in January 2014.
Her sister followed suit in February 2014 and they were both sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Tasmiyah began serving her sentence at Arrendale State Prison and Jasmiyah started serving hers at Pulaski State Prison.
Tasmiyah has a Tentative Parole Month of May 2025, and Jasmiyah’s Tentative Parole Month is September 2027
Nikki’s murder, including the bloody scene police discovered, was investigated in an episode of NBC’s Dateline that aired in 2022.
In the UK, the girls’ story is being revisited in Twisted Twins, which can be viewed on ITV and ITVX.