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Charlotte neighborhood left shaken by deaths of 7- and 3-year-old kids

By Stephanie Tinoco
By Stephanie Tinoco

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — During an emotional phone call with Channel 9, Patricia Treadway shared memories of her daughter and two grandchildren.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said 34-year-old Christina Treadway killed her two children, 7-year-old Isaiah Miller and 3-year-old Iliyah Miller, on Saturday before committing suicide.

“She was everything that a parent would want in a daughter,” Patricia Treadway said. “She was kind. She raised her children right. Her children were her world."

Channel 9 asked Patricia what she would want to tell her daughter if she could.

"That I love her," she said.

[SLIDESHOW: 2 children found dead, mother commits suicide]

Officials with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said they responded to the Old Gum Branch Road bridge at Interstate 485 just after 5:30 p.m. Saturday for reports of a suicide call, and found a woman dead on the interstate below.

Authorities said "key information" led officers to a home on nearby Sebastiani Drive, where the woman's children were found badly assaulted and alone.

The children were taken to Carolinas Medical Center, where they were pronounced dead, officials said.

CMPD officials said their investigation revealed that Treadway assaulted her children before jumping off the bridge.

“I'm kind of at a loss for words because she was our life,” Patricia Treadway said.

Christina Treadway worked as a Panthers' game day employee, Panthers spokesman Steven Drummond confirmed.

Police said they have located the children's father, and he is not a person of interest.

Investigators said they are not looking for any suspects, but are working to determine what led Treadway to harm her children.

“Obviously, that’s at the core of this investigation: What would cause someone to be so despondent to want to take their own life and take the lives of their children? But that’s going to be a key component of the investigation, and we're nowhere near ready to speak on that,” CMPD Maj. Mike Smathers said.

That's the top question neighbors have on their minds.

Channel 9 spoke to a neighbor whose children had a play date with Isaiah and Iliyah hours before their deaths.

"Our kids played here and had a good time. I don't know what happened, I don't know what happened over there. And I can't even begin to imagine why she would do something like this," said the neighbor, who did not want to be identified.

The neighbor told Channel 9 she was distraught when she learned about the tragedy.

"I couldn't really manage myself, couldn't keep myself together, when I found out, knowing that I had sent them home to whatever happened," she said.

The neighbor said she is left wondering how to explain the tragedy to her children, when she doesn't understand it herself.

"My daughter had just questions. 'Why? How? I can't believe Miss Tina would do something like that,'" the neighbor said.

The children's deaths mark the second and third Charlotte homicide cases of 2018 -- in a community that police said is quiet and low-crime.

All three homicides in Charlotte this year have been considered domestic-related.

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