The woman convicted of shooting to death her daughter-in-law in the parking lot of a Snellville Target store proclaimed her innocence in an exclusive interview with Channel 2 Action News' Mark Winne.
“I did not murder Heather Strube," Joanna Hayes said in a 45-minute interview in the Gwinnett County Jail. “I think if a person is capable of something like that, it would have to show it in their past."
A Gwinnett County jury found Hayes guilty last month for the April 26, 2009 shooting death of Strube. Prosecutors said Hayes wore a "Sonny and Cher" style man's wig and fake mustache when she walked up and shot Strube, 26, point-blank in the head.
Hayes allegedly wanted to avoid being recognized by onlookers as well as her grandson, Carson, who was then 18 months old. He was buckled into his car seat when his mother was slain outside of her vehicle.
The Luthersville woman was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole for her conviction on charges of murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm. She'll be eligible for release in 30 years, according to current parole guidelines.
Hayes' son, Steven Strube, and Heather Strube were separated and getting a divorce at the time of the killing.
In the jailhouse interview, Hayes said she felt shock and disbelief when she heard the jury's verdict.
“I have never in my life brought harm to anything. People in my life know this,” Hayes told Channel 2. "There’s no evidence that puts me at the scene. All the evidence actually shows it wasn’t me, I wasn’t there.”
Asked about her feelings toward Heather Strube, Hayes said, “I loved her dearly. And to have people sit and make comments that Heather was afraid of me, shocked me. ... When Heather was pregnant with Carson, she was living in her parents’ basement and she was sick and she called me to come to her parents' house to pick her up and take her to the hospital."
Snellville detectives built their case on the theory that Hayes wanted to raise Carson herself. Hayes said she had already raised a son.
"To be honest with you, I was 17 years old when I had Steven. I didn’t have a lot of life to live for myself," she said. "By the time I got my son out of high school, out of college, I was ready to live for me and spend time with my husband doing the things we had been planning to do, go places we wanted to go to together. I didn’t want more children.”
Now, she said, “I spend 18 hours locked in a cell. … That’s on a good day.”
As for how she gets through the day, Hayes said through “a lot of prayer -- knowing that I can lay my head down and sleep at night because I know I’m right with my God, and I didn’t do it. I don’t have a guilt to keep me awake.”
Hayes also said she forgives her son Steven Strube for a recorded telephone conversation that prosecutors used against her at trial, and that she worries about the guilt he may now feel about it.
Asked what she hoped for most, Hayes said, “That the truth can come out. That they can see I didn’t do this.”
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