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Court documents reveal violent history of woman who police say killed her two children

Jamerria Hall and her children, 3-year-old Da'Neira Thomas and 5-year-old Davin Thomas Jr., from 2018.
Jamerria Hall.jpg
Posted at 9:42 PM, Aug 25, 2021
and last updated 2021-08-26 09:35:28-04

BALTIMORE — We’re learning about the history behind the horrible discovery of two dead children in a Southwest Baltimore apartment complex.

Jamerria Hall, the mother of 6-year-old Da'Neria Thomas and her 8-year-old brother Davin Jr—confessed to murdering them on Wednesday.

RELATED: Mother confesses to murdering children day after their bodies were found decomposing inside apartment

According to 2018 charging documents, Hall set her mom's apartment on fire while these children were sleeping inside.

The documents said she destroyed smoke detectors and lit photographs and other items on fire throughout the house.

Police found her at the hospital the next day with her children.

They were questioned by the Child Abuse Unit.

Hall was in jail for a year and regained custody of the children when she got out.

“They should have furthered the investigation because you set your own house on fire with your kids in it," said Brandon Dixon. "My opinion, CPS should have took the kids right away.”

Dixon lives in the same complex and said he could hear arguments throughout the day and night coming from the apartment on Coventry Road.

He said he usually saw Hall, her children and a man sitting in a car in the same spot all day and night.

He noticed the car disappeared a few weeks back and saw the kids sitting by a stump by themselves.

“I just seen the kids so I got a little personal with them 'hey how you guys doing? I don’t see your family out here normally you guys are in the car'. They just kind of looked at me, they didn’t look happy at all.”

This all started because of a complaint from neighbors about an odor coming from the apartment.

That’s when police were called and made the terrible discovery.

A Maryland case search found that Hall plead guilty to first degree arson for lighting her parents' house on fire with the children inside.

She served a year in jail and was granted custody of the kids because the father didn’t show up to a court hearing.

Commissioner Harrison said the department would review Hall’s child custody history as part of their investigation— but what’s not clear is what actions CPS or child protective services took.

Attorney Mark Scheuerman with Scheuerman Law, LLC, is not directly involved in the case, but he said usually, CPS would have investigated after the 2018 charge of arson, a case he called undercharged.

“Mental health is a huge problem these days," said Scheuerman. "I’m very sure mental health was a critical problem in this situation here. Unaddressed mental health problems. What we may have here is a situation where there was no proper CPS investigation done and no rehabilitation, treatment, accountability for what happened in 2018 which sort of brought us here to today.”

We found her Facebook page where she posted about the struggles of motherhood and dealing with depression.

Hall was arrested and charged with with first degree murder, first degree assault and reckless endangerment of the kids. She is currently at Central Booking Intake Facility.