Three more arrests have been made in last week’s robbery-turned-killing of a Conyers woman over a hair-weave sale, including the arrest of a man who had been suspected in the 2010 deadly shooting at a Conyers house party.
The incident happened about 10 p.m. last Wednesday night at the Fountain Crest subdivision in south Rockdale County off Ga. Highway 20 and Ga. Highway 138, according to officials.
Christina Menzies, 19, of Covington, had arranged to meet with a group to buy hair weaves, according to a Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office press release. The two parties met at the subdivision’s pool.
Victims told RCSO deputies that a group came out the bushes, and one of the assailants pointed a handgun at the victims. The two groups reportedly exchanged gunfire, and Christina’s sister, 21-year-old Jennifer Menzies of Conyers, was shot. She was pronounced dead at Rockdale Medical Center.
The latest three suspects were arrested by the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office with assistance from the U. S. Marshals Service.
James Wansley Edwards, 21, of Stone Mountain, was arrested and charged with armed robbery.
Brandon Jay Lamothe, 20, of Conyers, was charged with being party to the crime of armed robbery and with three counts of probation violation felony. Damani Carta Young, 19, of Conyers, was charged with law enforcement obstruction misdemeanor.
On Thursday, RCSO investigators had talked with Lamothe’s mother, who said that if her son was involved in the armed robbery, he needed to go to jail.
"(Brandon Lamothe’s mother) called Brandon while we were having the conversation. (She) told Brandon to turn himself in. (She) said that Brandon would turn himself in," wrote the reporting deputy, Investigator Bradley Stewart.
However, after a day passed and Lamothe had not turned himself in, investigators tracked Lamothe’s phone to a location near Salem Road in Newton County, but could not narrow down the address.
On Friday morning, the phone was tracked to a location in Rockdale off of Ga. Highway 138. U.S. Marshals used their equipment to confirm that the phone was inside 1129 River Tusk Place.
After officers knocked on the door for 10 minutes, a male, identified as Damani Young, answered the door. He was detained and said Lamothe and Edwards were not inside the house.
However after deputies asked repeatedly, Young then said, "You got ‘em."
Edwards and Lamothe were found hiding upstairs.
When Lamothe was put in handcuffs, he reportedly said, "Y’all got me."
When Edwards came downtstairs, the investigators noticed he had an injury to his leg.
"I asked Mr. Edwards if he was OK and he then said that he got hit by a car around 11 p.m. the other night" and went to a hospital in DeKalb County. However, Edwards had a leg brace and a cloth under the brace, which did not look like it had been placed there at a hospital.
All three are still booked in the Rockdale County jail and were denied bond in magistrate court.
Edwards had previously been one of the main suspects investigated in the November 2010 shooting that killed Rockdale County High School student Dequavious Mapp and injured two other teens.
Edwards, 17 at the time, was eventually released due to lack of evidence, from a lack of witnesses willing to testify, although the party was estimated to have up to 300 people attending.
According to reports, the 2010 party on Treeleaf Lane was hosted by the 21-year-old son of the absent homeowner. The party had started as a 16-year-old’s birthday party and progressed to where a $3 cover charge was being collected and young men with unloaded shotguns were serving as "security."
Mapp had reportedly arrived at the party via taxi a short time before animosity flared up again between the "IBN" and "Street Boyz" groups. Shots were fired and Mapp, who died frm his wounds, as well as two other teens were hit.
After last Wednesday’s fatal armed robbery, police said, Christina Menzies left the subdivision with her wounded sister Jennifer, and they were stopped by a RCSO deputy on Ga. Highway 138. The deputy called for an ambulance for Jennifer.
Jennifer was transported to Rockdale Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
Deputies arrested Christina Menzies and charged her with making false statements and being a party to the crime of armed robbery. Jaquan House, 20, of Conyers, was also arrested and charged with armed robbery. House was arrested near the subdivision.