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Left inset: Shaniece Willingham (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office). Right inset: The pool where Shaniece Willingham allegedly tried drowning herself and her three children in Florida earlier this month (WFLA/YouTube). Background: Shaniece Willingham breaking down during her first court appearance on Monday, Sept. 29, 2025 , in Hillsborough County, Fla. (WFLA/YouTube).
A Florida mother accused of trying to drown herself and her three children in the deep end of a community pool — tying all of them to a single rope before throwing the children in one-by-one — allegedly kept the kids underwater for “anywhere from 20 to 50 seconds,” with her 8-month-old being submerged for nearly a minute, prosecutors say.
“The 8-month-old is very clearly seen thrown into the water and is recovered by a second brother who jumped the fence and into the water,” a prosecutor alleged in court Monday during Shaniece Willingham’s preliminary detention hearing, which was covered by local CBS affiliate WTSP.
“The infant was under water for 51 seconds,” the prosecutor said.
Willingham, 24, is accused of carrying out the attempted filicide on Sept. 24 after giving her “last goodbye” to friends and family during an Instagram livestream, according to court documents. Her other two kids who were allegedly involved are 3 and 2.
“Prior to even getting to the pool she’s on an Instagram live video where she is describing that no one else will take care of her children, so she is not only going to take her life but take their lives as well so God can watch over them,” the prosecutor told a Hillsborough County judge, who denied Willingham bond.
“I find that release would cause an exceedingly great risk of harm to herself and to the alleged victims,” the judge said.
Willingham’s lawyer told the court she was experiencing a mental health crisis that day, and the prosecution’s interpretation of the Instagram livestream is incorrect, according to WTSP.
“Ms. Willingham has been Baker acted four times,” the defense attorney said, referring to the Florida law that allows treatment for people experiencing a mental health crisis. “She is an individual who’s been diagnosed as bipolar, obviously has a history of mental diagnoses, and we believe at this point … was going through a severe mental health breakdown.”
Authorities say Willingham loaded her children into a wagon on Sept. 24 and walked them to the community pool while posting a “live story on her Instagram page,” according to court documents.
“In the video, the defendant was telling everybody this was her ‘last goodbye, and she could not take it anymore,'” alleged a motion for pretrial detention. “[Willingham] also said ‘she loved her kids so much, but she could not leave them behind because no one can take care of them, and they would be safe with God.'”
The social media broadcast prompted relatives to rush to a pool on Sacramento Street in Valrico, where Willingham said she was, after seeing her online.
“Ms. Willingham acknowledges the [relatives] getting out of the car and then throws one of the toddlers into the pool, throws the 8-month-old into the pool, then throws the other toddler into the pool,” the prosecutor said Monday.
Hillsborough County sheriff’s deputies were called and responded around 1:30 a.m. to find Willingham, who broke down in court throughout her bond hearing, and her children still alive. Willingham had allegedly gotten into a fight with her mother earlier in the evening and was upset that the children’s father wouldn’t pick her and their kids up after being asked to leave her mom’s residence.
“[The father] said he doesn’t give a f— and he ‘ain’t doing anything,'” Willingham said, according to the motion for pretrial detention, after calling the kids’ father. “At this point, the defendant loaded her children in a wagon and walked them to the community pool,” the document says.
Before tying her children up, Willingham allegedly called her mother on FaceTime and “told her that she loved her,” according to prosecutors. “The defendant then turned the camera around to show her mother that she was at the pool,” the detention motion says.
“The defendant sat on the side of the pool and used a rope to tie her and her children together so they could all be bound together after entering the pool,” the document alleges, noting how “neither the defendant nor any of the three victims” knew how to swim.
“[Willingham] pushed all three children and herself into the pool in an attempt to kill herself and her children,” prosecutors write. “The defendant and her children were located in the deep end of the pool, which was marked on the side as 6 feet deep.”
While speaking to cops after the incident, Willingham allegedly admitted to “wanting to end her life and kill her children at the same time,” according to prosecutors. She confessed to using a rope that had been attached to a “Life ring” — described by prosecutors as a “lifesaving flotation device in the pool area” — to tie her and her children to her “so they could all drown together.”
Willingham is facing multiple charges, including attempted murder.