Fairview Heights women charged with torture, murder of teen placed in their care
A foster parent in Fairview Heights and her mother are accused of torturing and ultimately murdering an 18-year-old ward of the state who had been placed in their care.
According to charges levied by a St. Clair County grand jury, the pair battered the teenager, bound her legs, obstructed her breathing, and forced her to smear her nose and mouth with human excrement.
On May 11 of 2024, that abuse led to her death, charges allege.
It was on that date that Fairview Heights police officers responded to a call at 6 Patricia Drive and found Mackenzi Felmlee, 18, unresponsive at the bottom of a staircase.
On Monday, law enforcement officials arrested Felmlee’s foster mother and foster grandmother in connection with her death. Both face multiple felony and misdemeanor charges, including first-degree murder.
Shameka S. Williams, 46, and Cornelia M. Reid, 64, each were charged with:
First-degree murder
Involuntary manslaughter
3 counts of domestic battery
2 counts of intimidation
Unlawful restraint
2 counts of misdemeanor domestic battery
According to charging documents, Felmlee remained a ward of the state on April 8, 2020, when she was placed into Williams’ care, despite being a legal adult.
On the day of her death, police officers and medical staff at Memorial Hospital in Belleville noticed “significant bruising and injuries in various stages of healing on Felmlee’s body,” according to a release issued by the Fairview Heights Police Department Monday. The injuries prompted the investigation, the release said.
Among items taken into evidence was a cellphone, according to the release, which did not specify who owned the device.
A “forensic analysis” of the phone uncovered photos and videos that documented “abuse, neglect, and torture of Mackenzi at the hands of Williams and Reid,” court documents said.
Charging documents detailed some of the alleged abuses.
They say Williams and Reid intentionally constricted Felmlee’s legs, which caused the formation of blood clots that traveled to her lungs. This is known as a pulmonary embolism and, according to medical experts in the case, is potentially fatal.
They also allege Williams struck Felmlee in the face, that they blocked her nose and mouth “to impede normal breathing,” and that they threatened her with beatings “if she did not place a material containing human feces, urine or excrement over her nose and mouth.
”This evidence along with findings from the autopsy and expert consultations, and the results of laboratory work, played a critical role in a lengthy investigation,” the police press release stated.
Investigators presented evidence to a St. Clair County grand jury Friday. Agents from Fairview Heights Police, Illinois State Police and the U.S. Marshals Service arrested Williams and Reid Monday. During the arrest, a juvenile female assaulted an officer resulting in “a significant facial injury that required medical treatment,” the release stated.
The investigation is ongoing, police said.
This story was originally published June 23, 2025 at 6:07 PM.
