In the fall of 2017, the life of 27-year-old Sergio Ulysses Collins, an African American man from Atlanta, Georgia, was cut tragically short. Collins, a man who had navigated the challenges of the foster care system and was actively trying to create a better future for himself, was reported missing on October 17, 2017. There were immediate concerns from his family that he may have been the victim of violence.
These fears were devastatingly confirmed three days later, on October 20, when a DeKalb County police officer on a routine patrol discovered Collins' body. He was found deceased in his white 2007 Pontiac Grand Prix, which was parked outside a DSW Shoe Warehouse at the Mall at Stonecrest in Lithonia.
The investigation into his death revealed that Collins had sustained multiple gunshot wounds. While his body was found in DeKalb County, the Atlanta Police Department took over the case, as evidence suggested he had been killed in northwest Atlanta on the same day he was reported missing. Investigators believed that the act was not random and that Collins knew his assailant. They determined that he had been shot inside his own vehicle before it was abandoned in the mall parking lot. The authorities appealed to the public for information, believing there were witnesses to the events leading to his death.
The investigation quickly led to the identification of a suspect. On November 2, 2017, 29-year-old Purcious Smith was apprehended by FBI agents in Charleston, South Carolina. Warrants had been issued for Smith, charging him with felony murder and armed robbery in connection with the shooting death of Sergio Collins. Following his arrest, Smith was held in South Carolina to await extradition back to Atlanta to face the charges against him. The arrest brought a measure of progress for a grieving family who remembered Collins as a laughing, joking, and loving father, and for a community that had hoped to see him succeed in turning his life around.
