Mother who jumped off I-95 charged with manslaughter

Top photo: Shirlene N. Alcime, Bottom photo: Milendhet and Milendhere Napoleon-Cadet. Background: The scene where she allegedly jumped from the highway overpass (WPLG)

After a months-long investigation, authorities in Florida have formally charged a mother with the killing of her three-year-old twins, but the charges were not enough to raise a possible murder charge.

Shirlene N. Alcime, 43, is charged with manslaughter, according to WTVJ, the NBC affiliate in Miami. Miami-Dade police said they were called to I-95 on Feb. 2. Alcime jumped from the wall of the freeway onto the tracks below when police arrived at the scene, officials say. Her children, Milendhet and Milendhere Napoleon-Cadet, 3, were found in the back seat of a car nearby. They were unresponsive, foaming at the mouth, and were pronounced dead a short time later. Their mother survived.

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Alcime allegedly denied giving her children anything that could make their condition worse, but admitted that her family was going through financial trouble and that her children could not be left alone with their father or they would end up “homeless or sleeping in the car.” She allegedly admitted that she took the children to McDonald's and Chuck E. Cheese that day so the twins could “have a nice day.”

“The defendant admitted that he considered jumping off the bridge with both victims or throwing them off one at a time and then jumping to end their lives,” officials wrote.