Tyneshia Shelby told her mother everything.
On Sunday, the 33-year-old spent hours on the phone with her mother, Kimberly Henderson, hanging up only when a friend she was expecting knocked on the door.
“Mama, I’m gonna call you right back, OK?” Shelby said, according to her mother. “And that was it.”
The next morning, Shelby was found shot to death, according to Clayton County police. But thanks to her cellphone records, investigators were quickly able to identify a suspect, her mother said Thursday.
Raeshaun Jones.
Jones and Shelby had worked together several years earlier before Jones took a job at Delta Air Lines, her mother said. The two had recently run into each other again and had hung out a few times. But her daughter wasn’t interested in a romantic relationship with Jones, Henderson said.
“She knew him as a friend,” Henderson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Jones called Shelby late Sunday and the two made plans. By the time he arrived at the Stockbridge hotel where Shelby was living temporarily, Jones had likely already committed the first of two homicides, according to police.
Investigators believe Jones was waiting in a Delta employee parking lot, just off Camp Creek Parkway, for a coworker, Alexis Reed, to finish her shift shortly after 10 p.m. Sunday. Reed was later found shot multiple times and died from her injuries, according to College Park police.
Hours later, around 10:30 a.m. Monday, Clayton police found Shelby’s body in her hotel room. Investigators from the two police agencies were able to link the women’s deaths and Jones became the suspect.
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Henderson assumed her daughter had been busy and hadn’t had time to call Monday. When her phone rang, it was a Clayton detective, telling her Shelby had died. Henderson traveled from her home in Missouri to the Atlanta area, where police explained what they knew about the case.
Working together, local and federal investigators located Jones on Tuesday. But when he was confronted, Jones shot and killed himself. Investigators have not determined a motive in the killings.
Henderson said she can’t understand why anyone would want to kill her only daughter.
“Why did you kill my baby? I need to find out why he killed my baby,” she said Thursday. “She wouldn’t hurt a flea. If she had two dollars, she was gonna give you a dollar. She was a beautiful girl, inside and out. She always had a smile on her face.”
Born in Missouri, Shelby moved to the Atlanta area as a child. She was a gifted student, and as a teenager loved to babysit, her mother said.
Though her parents and two older brothers later moved from Atlanta, Shelby wanted to stay, telling her mother her friends were here. Recently, Shelby had lost her job and apartment, but told her mother she would be fine. She planned to stay temporarily in a hotel until she was back on her feet.
“She was so independent, a go-getter,” Henderson said. “She wasn’t going to let anybody keep her down. She would say, ‘Mama, don’t worry about me. I’m strong, just like you.’”
Henderson said she's grateful to the lead detective on her daughter's case, and he's vowed to continue his investigation. Now, Henderson said she and her devastated family are making funeral plans for Shelby, who will be buried in Missouri. A GoFundMe page has been created to assist the family.
In addition to her parents and two older brothers, Shelby is survived by three stepbrothers, several nieces and nephews, other family members and friends. Funeral arrangements are pending.
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