Ja’Qeada Isaac’s Last Moments

People close to Ja’Qeada Isaac said she was extremely outgoing, an eager member of the Elite Dancers, always at Carnival. The nine-year-old was an enthusiastic student at Jane E. Tuitt Elementary School. Her home life with her mother appeared to be loving and supportive. But there was another side. The only window many Virgin Islanders have into this area of her life is through court documents explaining the alleged circumstances of her death before dawn Saturday.

Family members suspected Anyah Smith, Ja’Qeada’s mother, was consumed by a psychotic episode in the hours before she allegedly killed her daughter.

A person experiencing acute psychotic distress might hear voices others don’t and harbor seemingly unreasonable fears from unseen terrors. As odd as their behavior might seem from the outside, the threat is very real to a person suffering with severe mental illness, health experts in the territory said.

Although the Virgin Islands has public hospitals and clinics and private mental health services, like many places, it lacks sufficient capability to provide long-term care to all those in need. Complicating matters, those requiring care often fervently resist anti-psychotic medication, said Lori Thompson, head psychologist at Schneider Regional Medical Center’s behavioral health unit. Anti-psychotic drugs can take a few days to take effect, she said, meaning getting someone on the drugs and staying on them can be difficult. Being regularly fed mind-altering pills and potentially hospitalized can feed into existing feelings of paranoia.