Four men involved in the shooting death of an employee at Barcelona Wine Bar in northwest Atlanta entered guilty pleas Monday.
Carlous Bailey, Terry Jones, Samuel Ott and Ira Williams all pleaded guilty to murder and other charges in the death of Chelsea Beller, 29.
On Nov. 19, 2017, Bailey, Ott and Williams came in while employees were closing the restaurant, after being dropped off by Jones.
Surveillance video showed Bailey forced Beller, the restaurant manager, upstairs to the management office while Ott and Williams remained downstairs with four other employees, who had their legs and hands bound with duct tape, according to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.
Beller opened the safe for Bailey before she was shot in the shoulder inside the restaurant’s office. She attempted to place a call on her cell phone but Bailey snatched the phone out of her hand and slammed it into the ground, the DA’s office said.
She died from her injuries.
“For the sake of a few hundred dollars, the four defendants in this case committed a senseless crime that led to the death of a young woman,” Fulton DA Fani Willis said in a release. “While we cannot bring back Chelsea Beller, we hope these guilty pleas and sentences bring some semblance of justice to her family, friends, and colleagues.”
Beller was described as a free-spirited, spunky woman with a kind heart. She was nicknamed “Rainbow Brite” for her ever-changing hair color, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.
After leaving the restaurant with approximately $2,700, the three men carjacked a rideshare driver in a parking lot across the street. The four would later split the money stolen.
Ott was arrested on December 2017 after investigators were able to match blood found near the crime scene to his DNA. Bailey, who was already in jail, was charged in January 2018 with murder and armed robbery. Jones was arrested at the Atlanta airport in February 2018 upon returning from a trip to Las Vegas.
Williams was arrested in February 2018 at the Wade Walker Park Family YMCA in Stone Mountain.
The four were indicted in March 2018 on 34 charges including murder, felony murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault, kidnapping, false imprisonment, burglary in the second degree, participation in criminal street gang activity and smash-and-grab burglary.
Bailey was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to eight counts of felony murder, three counts of armed robbery, six counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, one count of kidnapping, five counts of false imprisonment, one count of burglary in the second degree, smash and grab burglary, hindering person making emergency telephone call and hijacking a motor vehicle.
Ott and Williams were sentenced to 30 years without parole after pleading guilty to eight counts of voluntary manslaughter, six counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, five counts of false imprisonment, three counts of armed robbery, one count of kidnapping, burglary in the second degree, smash and grab burglary, hindering person making emergency telephone call and hijacking a motor vehicle.
Jones was sentenced to 15 years without parole after pleading guilty to eight counts of voluntary manslaughter, six counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, five counts of false imprisonment, three counts of armed robbery, one count of kidnapping, burglary in the second degree, smash and grab burglary.
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