The two men accused of kidnapping and killing a pregnant woman and her fiance in 2014 will plead guilty to murder charges and return to prison, where they’ll be the rest of their lives, the Fulton County District Attorney said Friday.
Andre Cleveland Gay, 44, and Richard “Fathead” Augusta Wilson, 46, killed Jeronta Brown, 23, and Briana Brooks, 21, execution-style on Aug. 30, 2014, according to the DA’s office. Gay and Wilson, who met in prison, will plead guilty Monday and each be sentenced to four consecutive life sentences, plus 65 years, without the possibility of parole, DA Paul Howard said.
Gay had been released from prison eight months before Brown and Brooks were killed, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections. He is serving a life sentence for a separate murder conviction, records show.
Wilson had been paroled twice since pleading guilty in 1991 to manslaughter and armed robbery and had gotten out of prison in May 2013 on a firearms charge. He is also serving time on an unrelated firearms charge, records show.
Credit: FULTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
Credit: FULTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
Investigators believe Gay and Wilson kidnapped the DeKalb County couple shortly after midnight because they believed a relative of Brown or Brooks had recently received an inheritance.
After a late-night run to Wendy's, Brown, Brooks, their 8-month-old daughter and Brown's teenage sister returned to their DeKalb home, Brown's mother previously told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. As they got out of the car at the Colleen Court home, the four were approached by men wearing masks and all black attire, according to police.
“My son told my daughter to run with the baby as fast as she could,” Kawana Brown said days later.
Brown and Brooks were handcuffed and put in the back of a brown van. The frantic 14-year-old told her mother and stepfather what had happened, and they immediately called 911.
Less than two hours later, Kawana Brown got a call demanding money. She asked to talk to her son.
“These boys are not playing,” Jeronta Brown told her.
In the early-morning hours, Brown said her family clung to hope that the two would be returned safely. There was a knock at the door, possibly the same men, but the family didn’t open it and again called police.
Then, there were phone calls placed to Jeronta’s stepfather and his mother on their cellphones. The numbers were blocked, Brown said. But whoever was on the other end was demanding $150,000. During one call, Brown got to hear her son’s voice. He pleaded for her to get the money.
At the police station, Jeronta’s 14-year-old sister told police everything she could, but there were few clues for detectives to follow. Before daylight, Jeronta Brown and Brooks were found in northwest Atlanta.
Hours later, the couple were found in Atlanta. Gay and Wilson shot them in the back of the head and left them to die on the side of the road, according to investigators. Brown and Brooks were handcuffed together with their hands behind theirs backs.
When Atlanta officers arrived, Brown was dead and Brooks was unconscious. She was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where her baby girl was delivered two months early. Brooks later died from her injuries. Brown and Brooks were the parents of two other young children.
Gay and Wilson are scheduled to enter guilty pleas Monday at 9:30 a.m. in front of Fulton Superior Court Judge Kimberly Adams.
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