In the small city of Camilla, Georgia, the life of 28-year-old Shelby Rhymes was tragically cut short on the night of Monday, March 8, 2021. The evening was shattered by a shooting that occurred in the 100 block of West Circle, a residential area that would become the scene of a homicide investigation.
Responding to a call about the shooting at approximately 10:26 p.m., officers from the Camilla Police Department arrived to find a female victim who had been shot. The woman was identified as Shelby Rhymes. The circumstances of her death prompted the local police to request the assistance of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to delve deeper into the events of that fatal night.
At the scene, law enforcement immediately took a male suspect into custody. He was identified as 27-year-old Marquerius Johnson. Johnson was known to the victim, though the nature of their relationship was not publicly detailed. Following an interview with GBI agents and Camilla Police, Johnson was formally charged with murder and booked into the Mitchell County Jail. Authorities indicated at the time that additional charges were expected to be filed against him. An autopsy was scheduled to be performed at the GBI Crime Lab to officially identify and document the full extent of the injuries Shelby Rhymes sustained.
The investigation into her death was described as active and ongoing in the days following the incident. However, publicly available information regarding the progression of the legal case against Marquerius Johnson, including details of a trial or conviction, is not readily found in online sources.
