It was a murder case that shocked the city in 2014: an Atlanta city council member’s teenage nephew was gunned down in cold blood in what investigators ultimately figured out was a case of mistaken identity.
Authorities said 18-year-old college student Darius Bottoms was mistaken for a gang member while driving late at night near Morehouse College in June 2014.
Bottoms was the nephew of then-councilwoman Keisha Lance Bottoms, who would go on to win the city’s mayoral race three years later.
On Friday, at 9 p.m., the Bottoms’ murder case will be featured on the Oxygen true crime series “The Real Murders Of Atlanta,” which highlights some of the city’s highest-profile murder cases.
The three people responsible — Rashad Barber, Ryan Bowdery and David Dajunta Wallace — were eventually convicted of murder and gang charges and sentenced to life in prison. An earlier trial ended in mistrial after it was suggested one of the jurors spoke with a police detective about ballistics evidence during court proceedings, the AJC reported at the time.
The episode features interviews with key players connected to the case including Atlanta Police Department homicide detective Brett Zimbrick, fellow detective Tyrone Dennis, a witness and friend Jared Robinson and Bottoms’ parents Darian and Myeka.
“I just remember sitting on the curb and crying,” Myeka said in the episode after she arrived at the scene of the murder.
Darius was attending Atlanta Metropolitan State College majoring in business.
“Darius was cool, laid back,” his father said on the episode, “an overall good kid.”
Clint Rucker, the Fulton County prosecutor at the time on this case, is a regular contributor to the series and provided commentary on the episode. He retired in 2021 from the district attorney’s office after a stint as chief assistant district attorney and now works as a magistrate judge in South Fulton and does some part-time criminal defense work.
“It’s your classic good guy in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Rucker in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Darius was a young African American male who kept his nose clean. He was close to his family and came from a prominent one, which has its own pressures. But he was able to complete high school and go to college. He was working and being responsible. He was just out with friends. What happened to him was terrible.”
While Rucker said the police and prosecution work hard on all murder cases, this case was highly scrutinized due to the players involved. “It had that extra layer,” he said. “I did everything I could to make sure the case was prepared and presented properly.”
Bottoms visited the courtroom during the trial while Rucker was the prosecuting attorney. “Her presence was hard to avoid,” he said. “She had some of the biggest bodyguards I’ve ever seen! She never spoke to me about the case. She was just a grieving family member who lost her nephew. I was happy the jury was able to see the facts and hold the parties accountable with a guilty verdict.”
>> RELATED: How the AJC covered the Darius Bottoms murder and subsequent trial
Credit: WSB-TV None
Credit: WSB-TV None
Rucker said he stays in touch with the Bottoms family and tries to make it to an annual event the family holds to honor their son by giving away bookbags to needy kids.
The case was also covered in 2019 by the TV One true crime show “ATL Homicide,” which features two retired Atlanta Police Department homicide detectives David Quinn and Vince Velazquez.
Quinn, in fact, tracked down the getaway driver of the three men who were responsible for Bottoms’ murder. As he texted to the AJC this week, Quinn found her in Orlando where “she gave a full confession having dinner with me at a Disney strip Carrabba’s not knowing I was secretly recording her the whole time.” That recorded confession was used in the trial since she became a hostile witness on the stand.
IF YOU WATCH
“The Real Murders of Atlanta,” 9 p.m. Friday on Oxygen
