For nearly a decade, Jessica Pryer had been a welcoming face in a quiet DeKalb County neighborhood near North Druid Hills Road. She brought gifts back from trips for neighbors’ children and grew tomatoes and flowers in a sunny garden.
Her bright smile, generosity and charisma added character to the street lined with ranch-style homes.
When two loud bangs rattled the residential area on June 17, a neighbor said he never imagined the sudden clamor had come from gunshots at Pryer’s home. But hours after the gunfire, a man walked into the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center on Sunday and confessed to killing a woman he identified as his girlfriend, records show. That woman was 46-year-old Pryer, a beloved member of the neighborhood.
About seven hours elapsed between the time of the fatal shooting and when Chadrick Gray allegedly admitted to the killing, an incident report states. The 43-year-old Gray later left the VA center along Clairmont Road in handcuffs Sunday morning after Pryer’s body was found in her home, about three miles away, officials said.
Shortly before 3 a.m. Sunday, June 18, DeKalb police had responded to a home in the 2600 block of Shetland Drive. The patio door was unlocked, but officials said officers knocked several times and called out to anyone inside before entering the home. Pryer’s body was found lying on the floor between a bedroom and hallway with a gunshot wound to her temple, the report said. A shell casing and a pistol were located near Pryer’s body, police confirmed.
Pryer’s close friend and neighbor, Dan Baerwalde, told officers he heard loud bangs at about 7:30 p.m. on June 17 but didn’t think anything of it.
“I would have never associated it with gunfire,” Baerwalde told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, adding that he thought Pryer had just dropped something heavy and that the sound was muffled.
Credit: DeKalb County Sheriff's Office
Credit: DeKalb County Sheriff's Office
Baerwalde said Pryer had recently told him that she was helping Gray through a tough patch. He had been living at her house for some time, but she was only providing a temporary home until he could find his own place, Baerwalde said.
He added that she had told him that the two had been in a romantic relationship in the past, but that was not the case at the time of her death.
“She was trying to help him get back on his feet,” Baerwalde said. He added that Pryer “did tell me that she was trying to get him out of the house.”
Baerwalde said he met Pryer nearly a decade ago, and they grew close through the years. She was kind to all those in the area and took special pride in her colorful and abundant garden that features countless flowers, tomatoes and herbs, Baerwalde said.
Baerwalde said she was a traveling soul. Pryer would often travel to different states and countries and bring back toys and other memorabilia for Baerwalde’s children.
“She was a caring, giving person,” he said.
Gray remains in the DeKalb County Jail and is facing charges of murder.
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