With man sentenced in Buckhead valet killing, victim’s mom looks to heal
Vodka sodas for everyone.
That’s how Autumn Ernst celebrated with her friends and family at a neighborhood watering hole after the Thursday sentencing of the man convicted in her 25-year-old son’s fatal Buckhead shooting.
Together, the group raised a glass of Harrison Olvey’s favorite drink.
Ernst had sat patiently since Tuesday inside a Fulton County courtroom, listening as prosecutors presented evidence in Olvey’s 2023 killing. At times, she and her daughter stepped into the hallway when the evidence became too difficult to bear.
She was told the trial would be quick and, by Wednesday, attorneys delivered closing arguments. During Thursday’s session, the jury deliberated and returned with a guilty verdict.
Randy A. King was sentenced to life in prison without parole, plus 20 years, in the killing that happened near Tongue & Groove nightclub where Olvey was working as a valet.
“I’ll never be able to fully move on with my life because my son’s not here to be part of it. It’s just, I feel like now our family can start to heal and close this chapter, because we just never knew that justice was going to be served,” Ernst told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution by phone from a Suwanee sports bar, where she gathered with loved ones after leaving the courthouse.
King was convicted of all charges, including three counts of murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, entering an automobile to commit a theft, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a first offender probationer, Fulton County Superior Court spokesperson Mario Boone confirmed.
His attorney, Anton Rowe, told the AJC by phone Friday morning they plan to file a motion next week for a new trial. If it is denied, Rowe said they will file an appeal.
Rowe said King has “always” acknowledged he committed the auto-related offense but has maintained he was not the person who shot Olvey.
The fatal shooting happened Sep. 3, 2023. Olvey was working around 2 a.m. when he noticed a man breaking into a truck belonging to someone he knew outside a LongHorn Steakhouse in the Uptown Atlanta development, previously known as Lindbergh City Center. His valet gig handled parking services for the nearby club.
Ernst said her son went up to the stranger, later identified as King, and was shot without warning after he asked the man what he was doing. King, who was 22 at the time, was arrested the following month.
Olvey had graduated from Kennesaw State University a few months prior and had been offered a job with State Farm. The valet work was only temporary and a means to pay for college.
Ernst and her daughter, Addison, were among many who read victim impact statements before King learned his sentence Thursday. Ernst had been drafting her remarks for over a year, revising it as her emotions evolved. She only finalized it the night before.
Despite her tears, she said she tried to remain composed so the judge and King could understand how much Olvey’s death shattered the lives of those who knew him.
Behind her, seated in the courtroom, were family members and several of her and her son’s friends. Some had flown in from out of state for the somber occasion.
“We tried to really pack out the courtroom as much as we could, just so that the jury and the judge could just see what an impact Harrison had on everybody’s life,” she said.
The same month Olvey died, Ernst and some of her family members got tattoos in his memory. Hers included his birth date and signature from a Mother’s Day card he gave her the year he died. The black ink reads “Forever in my Heart.”
She said Thursday she’s thinking about adding to it by incorporating more of Olvey’s writings and some cardinals, which she often sees flying around her home.
Her grief eventually led her to move out of her Suwanee house, which she had lived in for about 30 years.
“The old house, there was nothing but memories. Christmases and holidays and birthdays. We had his last birthday on the deck out there and just needed to get a fresh start,” she said.
Olvey would have turned 28 on April 29.
Every night since his death, Ernst said she has made a toast to her son.
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