Smiling ‘twisted twin’ killer who stabbed mother to death with her sister is RELEASED from jail after serving just half her sentence
Tasmiyah Whitehead, one of the Georgia "twisted twins" convicted over the fatal stabbing of their mother in 2010, has been released from prison on parole after serving only 12 years of a 30-year sentence. She and her twin sister Jasmiyah, who were 16 at the time, attacked their mother Nikki with a kitchen pot and a knife at their home in Conyers, Georgia, stabbing her between 50 and 80 times before submerging her body in a bathtub while she was still alive. The case attracted widespread attention for its brutality and the twins' apparent composure afterwards, and Tasmiyah's early release has reignited debate over the leniency of her plea deal.
Whitehead, now 33, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, knife possession and giving false statements under a 2014 plea agreement, and was freed from Pulaski State Prison on 5 August after also spending four years in pre-trial detention. She had been eligible for parole since 2017, whereas her sister Jasmiyah, who took an identical plea deal, will not be eligible until May 2028. The sisters, who had been largely raised by their great-grandmother, were arrested four months after the killing following a covert investigation in which detectives recorded them discussing the absence of evidence.
- Tasmiyah Whitehead freed after 12 years of 30-year sentence
- She and twin sister stabbed their mother up to 80 times in 2010
- Sister Jasmiyah remains ineligible for parole until 2028
New here? Start with this
The case dates back to 2010, when 16-year-old twin sisters Tasmiyah and Jasmiyah Whitehead killed their mother, Nikki, at the family home in Conyers, Georgia. The attack was extremely violent, and the case became widely known in the United States as the "twisted twins" killing, partly because of how calm the sisters appeared to be in the aftermath.
The twins were raised mainly by their great-grandmother and were arrested some months after the killing, following an investigation that included secretly recorded conversations between them. In 2014 they each pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and related charges under a plea deal, rather than facing trial for murder, and were sentenced to 30 years, with parole eligibility built in after a portion of that time.
The case has continued to draw public attention because of the brutality of the killing, the youth of the perpetrators, and questions raised at the time about whether the plea agreement was appropriate given the circumstances. Tasmiyah and Jasmiyah, now in their thirties, have taken different paths through the parole system despite receiving identical sentences, which is part of why the case has resurfaced in the news.