The second-season premiere of the show "ATL Homicide" featured the double kidnapping and murders of Jeronta Brown and his pregnant girlfriend Briana Brooks.
Brown and Brooks were returning from a late-night food run early Aug. 30, 2014 when they were kidnapped. Hours later, the young couple was discovered 17 miles away. Both had been shot in the head. Brown was dead and Brooks was critically injured. Her baby was delivered before she was taken off of life support.
The TVOne true-crime series recreates cases as told by David Quinn and Vince Velazquez, two retired Atlanta Police Department homicide detectives.
» THE LIST: Georgia cases featured on true-crime shows and podcasts
Here's how The Atlanta Journal-Constitution covered the Brown and Brooks murders as the case unfolded. You can find the AJC's coverage of other "ATL Homicide" cases here.
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Credit: Fulton County District Attorney
Credit: Fulton County District Attorney
From Sept. 1, 2014:
Couple kidnapped in DeKalb, found shot in Atlanta, identified
A boyfriend and girlfriend abducted at gunpoint from outside a DeKalb home were found hours later and 17 miles away Saturday morning shot and lying in a NW Atlanta street, police said.
The 24-year-old man, identified as Jeronta Brown, died Saturday, according to Channel 2 Action News. The 21-year-old woman, identified as Briana Brooks, 21, was critically injured and taken to Grady Hospital, according to Channel 2. Brooks, who was pregnant, is on life support after giving birth to a baby girl, Channel 2 reports.
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From Sept. 6, 2014:
Kidnap victim to mom before fatal shot: ‘These boys are not playing’
Less than two hours after her son and his girlfriend were kidnapped in front of her house, Kawana Brown got a call demanding money. Brown asked to talk to her son.
“These boys are not playing,” Jeronta Brown told her.
Hours later, Jeronta, 23, and his pregnant girlfriend, Briana Brooks, 21, were found in Atlanta. Both had been shot in the head, and Jeronta was dead. Late Thursday, Brooks died after being removed from life support. Police in both DeKalb County and Atlanta are investigating, but no arrests had been made late Friday.
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From Sept. 29, 2014:
1 arrested, 1 sought in DeKalb couple’s kidnapping and fatal shooting
With one suspect in custody, federal marshals are hunting for another man Monday suspected of assisting in the kidnapping and killing of a Dekalb couple who died after the ransom demand went unmet.
... Andre Cleveland Gay was booked into the Fulton County Jail Friday morning, charged with multiple counts of kidnapping, murder, felony murder, aggravated assault with intent to commit murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, jail records show.
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From Oct. 17, 2014:
Fulton DA says kidnapper-killers need to die for lifetimes of mayhem
Andre Cleveland Gay and Richard “Fathead” Wilson killed and killed again on their own before coming together to commit the cold-blooded execution of a man and his pregnant fiancee that prosecutors hope will put them on death row, authorities said Friday.
In announcing his decision to seek the death penalty, District Attorney Paul Howard said the two men killed at least seven people in Fulton County alone. Atlanta police expect to tie more unsolved murders to the two men.
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From Sept. 2, 2015:
Kidnapped, slain DeKalb couple’s estate sues police, parole board
DeKalb police should have responded quicker to a mother’s frantic late-night call for help last year when she told them her son and his pregnant fiancee had been kidnapped from their home, according to a civil lawsuit filed this week in Superior Court.
Parole officers also should have watched convicted felons Andre Gay and Richard Wilson more closely before the kidnappings, according to the suit.
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Credit: Fulton County District Attorney
Credit: Fulton County District Attorney
From Sept. 24, 2018:
2 men plead guilty to execution-style kidnapping, killing of couple
Two men pleaded guilty Monday to the execution-style murders of a pregnant woman and her fiance in 2014.
Andre Gay, 44, and Richard Wilson, 46, were sentenced to four consecutive life sentences without parole plus 65 years, Channel 2 Action News reported.
... The suspects met in prison, the DA’s office said. According to the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles, Gay was out on parole at the time of the incident.
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» MORE: Read the AJC's coverage of the cases in "ATL Homicide" Season 1
» RELATED: How the AJC covered the events in "The First 48 Presents: Homicide Squad Atlanta"
» THE LIST: Georgia crime cases featured on true-crime shows and podcasts
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