A judge Wednesday morning sentenced one of the six suspects in a fatal Columbus 2020 home invasion that was orchestrated by a street gang to steal money and drugs from a woman in the Upatoi area.
He and his five cohorts pleaded guilty Monday before Judge John Martin, who already has sentenced two of them. Two more defendants, both women who were teenagers at the time, are yet to be sentenced.
All were set to go to trial this week in Muscogee Superior Court, accused of killing Cross Henderson and beating others held at gunpoint while robbing Henderson’s mother, Autumn Lynn Tillery, of money and drugs in her home on Autumn Ridge Drive.
Each defendant made a plea deal with prosecutors.
Sentenced Wednesday morning was Anthony Nathan Foster, 26, who pleaded to home invasion, armed robbery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and violating Georgia’s gang terrorism act. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison with 18 to serve and the rest on probation.
A second suspect is to be sentenced Wednesday afternoon: Laqwane Demarcus Kindred, 29, who pleaded to robbery. He’s to be sentenced to 15 years in prison with seven to serve and the rest on probation, according to his plea deal.
Authorities said they were in a gang known as FNG that at gunpoint on Jan. 18, 2020, confronted Henderson and some guests in the backyard of his home,. The gang marched them inside before separating Henderson from the others and ordering him upstairs, where Tillery allegedly stashed a supply of drugs.
Henderson was shot from behind as he tried to run up the stairs, telling his mother to call 911. The intruders then took all their captives up the stairs, collected the loot from the mother’s bathroom and fled in a white car, their coming and going recorded on neighbors’ security cameras.
All but Kindred had been involved in robbing Tillery there the week before, prosecutors said. That robbery on Jan. 11, 2020, was not reported to police, they said.
The shooter, and the rest
The defendant who shot Henderson was Trevonius Tyriq Williams, 25, who after mortally wounding him said “Sorry about your a–,” according to lead prosecutor Sadhana Dailey.
He shot Henderson in the buttocks, but the bullet penetrated vital organs. Henderson died at the hospital.
Other victims were pistol-whipped when T-shirts the intruders tied around their faces slipped, and witnesses recognized them. Some knew Foster from Northside High School, where Henderson graduated in 2016.
Williams pleaded guilty Monday to murder, home invasion, armed robbery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and violating the gang terrorism act. Martin sentenced him to life in prison with the possibility of parole, meaning he will serve at least 30 years before he’s eligible for release.
The other defendant sentenced Monday was Ceuion Marque English. 26. He pleaded to home invasion, armed robbery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and violating the gang terrorism act. Martin sentenced him to 30 years in prison with 20 to serve and the rest on probation.
The two women involved still await sentencing. One was 16 at the time:
- Mercedes Annmarie Kraft, 21.
- Toni Nicole Toole, 19.
Each pleaded to two counts of robbery. They entered a “cold plea,” meaning prosecutors agreed to no sentencing recommendation in exchange for their pleas. The maximum sentence for robbery is 20 years in prison.