In the fall of 2017, the life of a young mother from Irmo, South Carolina, was tragically cut short. Twenty-one-year-old Kristi L. Bell died on Saturday, September 30, 2017, in a northeast Columbia apartment complex. An investigation by the Richland County coroner revealed that she sustained a single gunshot wound to the head. Her death was part of a violent and heartbreaking event that also claimed the life of another individual.
Deputies from the Richland County Sheriff's Department
were called to the apartment complex on Oakcrest Drive around 10:30 in the morning. Upon their arrival, they discovered Kristi and 26-year-old Kentrell A. Kelly of Hopkins, both unresponsive. Like Kristi, Kelly had also suffered a single gunshot wound to the head. The initial assessment by the coroner and law enforcement pointed towards an apparent murder-suicide. Investigators with the sheriff's department worked to determine the precise circumstances that led to the two deaths.
Kristi was remembered as a wonderful and loving mother to her young daughter, Kaylee Amaya Kelly. Born in Silver Spring, Maryland, she was a 2014 graduate of Dutch Fork High School and had attended Midlands Technical College. She was a dedicated employee at Bridge Real Estate Group, where she was showing great promise as a leasing agent. Social media posts from friends and family at the time of their deaths indicated that Kristi and Kentrell were a couple and shared their young child. The investigation did not lead to any arrests of other suspects, with the evidence pointing to the incident being a murder-suicide.
