A 22-year-old Georgia man who pleaded guilty to killing his ex-girlfriend during a Fourth of July barbecue last year at her Locust Grove home will spend the rest of his life in prison after he was sentenced Monday.
Raphael Kelley of Barnesville pleaded guilty to malice murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, Henry County Assistant District Attorney Megan Matteucci said. He admitted to fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend, 23-year-old Laci Moss, after they got into a fight at the Independence Day gathering.
Kelley left the barbecue after arguing with Moss and returned with a gun, Matteucci said. He then shot Moss six times in front of her mother, with whom she was living, and her friends. Kelley was arrested 10 days later when he turned himself in at the Henry sheriff’s office.
Credit: GoFundMe
Credit: GoFundMe
Kelley, who had known Laci and the Moss family for nearly 10 years, admitted guilt as part of a negotiated plea deal and was sentenced to life in prison plus five years, Matteucci said.
“I hope you see her face every day that you live out the rest of your life and think about what you’ve done,” Henry Superior Court Judge Pandora E. Palmer told Kelley during Monday’s sentencing hearing. “If you had just walked away, we would not be here.”
Moss is survived by her mother and two sisters, including her twin, Kimberly, all of whom knew Kelley well, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.
“She was loved very much and she will be very much missed,” Kimberly told the AJC. “I talked to her every day, so I’m sort of trying to remember her every day.”
Kimberly said she and her sister met Kelley when they were 12 years old and he was 10. Laci’s childhood friendship with Kelley transformed at some point into a romantic relationship.
“As we got older, my sister just stayed in touch with him and they were together for like six-plus years,” Kimberly said.
In the wake of Laci’s death, Kimberly described the intensely traumatic shooting and its effects.
On a now-closed GoFundMe page created to help pay for Laci’s funeral, Kimberly wrote that Laci was gunned down “as she begged for her life.” The shooting left Laci and Kimberly’s mother living alone in the home where her daughter was murdered.
“She’s not coping, she’s losing it,” Kimberly said of her mother after Kelley was arrested in mid-July of 2021.
The Henry District Attorney’s Office noted that Kelley’s negotiated plea ensured the Moss family would not be forced to endure further trauma in the courtroom.
“We are grateful to bring justice to the family of Ms. Moss without having to put them through the difficulty of testifying at trial,” District Attorney Darius Pattillo said.
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