The man accused of killing a preschool teacher in July 2008 is now behind bars, thanks to forensic evidence left in the victim's car, according to Gwinnett County police.
Ronald Edward Smith, who is homeless, was arrested Friday night and charged with murder, according to Officer Brian Kelly with Gwinnett police. Smith, 51, is accused of shooting 40-year-old Genai Coleman and then stealing her car near Gwinnett Place Mall.
Coleman, who lived in Snellville, was waiting at around 9 p.m. on a Friday night to pick up her daughter, who was working at a nearby restaurant. Her car, an older Dodge Intrepid, was found the following Monday in Atlanta, police said.
Witnesses heard shots fired and then saw Coleman get out of the car and fall to the ground. She later died at Gwinnett Medical Center.
Police do not have a motive in the killing, but do not believe the two knew each other, Kelly said.
Smith's arrest comes following a week where Coleman was particularly on the mind of her relatives, her mother said Saturday night.
"It's the beginning of a stage of closure for the whole situation," Geraldine Brown said from her Indiana home. "Our thoughts have been on her particularly this week."
Investigators have spent more than a year studying forensic evidence in the case, Kelly said. At the time of his arrest, Smith was found in Lawrenceville, but he is homeless, police said. He is in custody at the Gwinnett County jail, where he is being held without bond.
Brown said her daughter, who was the adoptive mother to three daughters, was a nurturing person who cared very much about people, including the children she taught.
“For her to be taken from us," she said, "it was a taking that is not easily reconciled.”
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