A summer holiday celebration turned into a scene of horror and tragedy on July 4, 2021, in Locust Grove, Georgia, when 23-year-old Laci Moss was shot and killed. The young woman was at an Independence Day barbecue at a home on Lobolly Ridge when an argument with her ex-boyfriend escalated to a fatal encounter.
The ex-boyfriend, identified as 22-year-old Raphael Kelley of Barnesville, had a history with Moss and her family, having known them for nearly a decade and having been in a
relationship with Laci for over six years. Following a disagreement at the party, Kelley left the residence, only to return a short time later armed with a gun. In front of her mother and friends, Kelley shot Moss six times.
After the shooting, Kelley fled the scene and remained at large for ten days before turning himself in to the Henry County Sheriff's Office. In a negotiated plea deal, Raphael Kelley pleaded guilty to charges of malice murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. The plea was entered in Henry County Superior Court, and it spared Moss's family the additional trauma of a trial.
As a result of his guilty plea, Kelley was sentenced to life in prison plus an additional five years. During the sentencing, Superior Court Judge Pandora E. Palmer addressed Kelley directly, expressing the profound and preventable loss of life.
