Shani Ronashia King, a 23-year-old female, was a former corrections officer turned insurance agent and entrepreneur from Milledgeville, Georgia, who was a mother to a young son. On the evening of September 12, 2022, her life was cut short when she was shot in the neck inside the kitchen of her residence at the Old Capital Mobile Home Park. The man she was dating, Reco Stephens, then drove her to the emergency room at Atrium Health Navicent Baldwin.
Despite his actions to get her to the hospital, King succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead.
In the immediate aftermath, investigators from the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office began to piece together the events of that tragic night. Stephens was brought in for questioning, and his narrative of what occurred began to unravel. He initially told detectives that King had tragically taken her own life, a claim that was quickly disputed by the evidence collected at the scene. An autopsy later confirmed the authorities' suspicions, ruling King's death a homicide. The investigation was deemed 'domestic in nature' by law enforcement.
As detectives delved deeper, Stephens’ deception became more apparent. He presented a firearm to the police, claiming it was the weapon King had used. However, the investigation uncovered that he had planted that weapon and hidden the actual murder weapon. A crucial breakthrough came when a woman at the mobile home park discovered a gun underneath one of the homes. Ballistics testing confirmed this was the weapon used to kill Shani King. With this evidence, along with his conflicting statements, authorities felt they had enough to charge him.
Reco Stephens was arrested and subsequently indicted on multiple charges, including malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. His trial took place in March 2024. Over the course of the weeklong proceedings, prosecutors laid out the evidence against him. After about four hours of deliberation, the jury returned a guilty verdict on six counts. Shortly thereafter, a judge sentenced the 31-year-old Stephens to life in prison for the murder of his girlfriend.
