On October 29, 2024 at around 2:30 a.m., police say officers responded to a home in the 1900 block of Omaha Lane in Johnson City, Tennessee. Upon arrival, officers found a 1-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl unresponsive. They were pronounced dead at the scene.
Officers also found their mother, 28-year-old Jessica Chandler, at the scene with self-inflicted superficial cuts to her arms and legs. Officers found empty bottles of Tylenol, melatonin and NyQuil near Chandler in the bathtub. Officers asked if all she had taken was melatonin and Nyquil and Chandler then added “Tylenol and ibuprofen.”
Police said Chandler brandished a knife at officers and EMS personnel. She was detained and taken to an area hospital.
Police said the investigation revealed that Chandler left three handwritten notes directly implicating herself in the murders of her children.
Authorities stated that because the children did not have visible wounds and had foam coming from the mouth and nose, it is suspected that Chandler killed them by poisoning them.
Chandler has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree felony murder, two counts of aggravated child abuse, and two counts of aggravated assault on a first responder.
