For Sabrina Milledge and Antonio Snipes of Americus, years of waiting for an arrest in their 4-year-old’s fatal shooting have come to an end.
On Wednesday, the GBI and Americus police arrested Davontae Watts, 25, in the Dec. 30, 2014, killing of the couple’s daughter, Assata Snipes.
Antonio Snipes and Milledge said late Thursday that they were both stunned when law enforcement called to say an arrest had been made in the cold case.
“No doubt about it — I’m glad it’s over,” Snipes said. “It was a hell of a long time coming.”
Young Assata was sitting with her mother, having her freshly washed hair combed and braided, when bullets came flying from outside into their apartment.
Five shots were fired. One hit Assata in the head, and she was pronounced dead a short while later at a local hospital.
Authorities have never identified a motive for the shooting. But Antonio Snipes told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution late last year that he believed the shooter had the wrong address.
Terry Howard, an assistant special agent in the GBI’s Americus office, said Thursday that Watts was arrested at his home in Americus on Wednesday based on crime scene evidence. He declined to discuss specifics.
Howard said Watts is being held in the Sumter County Jail on one count of felony murder and four counts of aggravated assault.
Milledge and Snipes brought home a baby boy just a few weeks ago. But that didn’t ease their desire to get justice for Assata.
Snipes said then that he was angry that an arrest had not been made in the death of his daughter, whom he described as “a sweetheart.”
“My baby would run up and hug a stranger,” he said in late December.
Snipes said he remembers “everything about what happened” on the day of Assata’s death and gives this account:
Sabrina was winding down after a long day. She’d worked her two jobs — at a fast-food restaurant and a dollar store — made a stop at Wal-Mart, and grabbed a bite out with Snipes, Assata and the child’s older sister, Isis, before heading home around 2 a.m.
Once home, Sabrina gave the two girls a bath, took a shower and sat down to comb and braid Assata’s hair.
Snipes was nearby, scrolling through Facebook posts, when five bullets came flying into the apartment.
Snipes said he initially was unaware that Assata had been shot. His first reaction was to race outside to try to spot the shooter, who apparently approached the apartment on foot.
He said at the time that his mother raised him to be able to face difficulties.
“She said: ‘Don’t stop.’ And (we) aren’t going to stop,” he said of the family’s push for an arrest.
On Thursday, Milledge said authorities told them they expect more arrests.
Snipes said he doesn’t know Watts but has seen him around town.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact the GBI in Americus at (229) 931-2439 or the Americus Police Department at (229) 924-3677.
WHAT IS A COLD CASE?
A "cold case" is a criminal investigation where all leads have been exhausted and the case remains unsolved. This story is one in an occasional series on unsolved homicides and missing person cases from around the state. To read more cold cases, go to myajc.com/coldcases.
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