A man was convicted in January after a 65-year-old woman was found stabbed to death when Atlanta police forced their way into a Grove Park home following a SWAT standoff in October 2022.
Curtis Lilly, 71, was found guilty of murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a knife during the commission of a felony by a Fulton County jury in the death of Cassandra Williams. Lilly was sentenced to life without parole plus five years, according to court documents.
A motion for a new trial was filed days after the sentencing.
Officers responded to the home in the 2000 block of North Avenue, not far from Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway, for a wellness check around 8:15 p.m. on October 22, 2022, police said in a statement. When they got there, they learned that Lilly was barricaded inside with a woman.
The police department’s SWAT team and hostage negotiators also responded and tried to talk Lilly into exiting the home, but he refused, police said.
The SWAT team eventually forced entry into the house and took Lilly into custody, the statement read.
They found Williams dead from apparent stab wounds. She was under a mattress and was badly beaten, according to the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Police could not confirm Lilly’s relationship to Williams but said the two lived together.
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