In the summer of 2017, a young woman's life was tragically cut short in a final, violent act of domestic abuse. Faith Bittinger, a 23-year-old female, was shot and killed in her College Park apartment on July 8, 2017. At the time of her death, she was two weeks pregnant with her second child. The man responsible for her death was her longtime boyfriend, Reginald Jones.
The relationship between Bittinger and Jones was described as 'rocky' by family members and was marked by a pattern of
physical and emotional abuse. Friends reported that Jones was controlling, getting upset about finances and his girlfriend's social media activity to the extent that he did not permit her to have a cellphone. The couple had a history of domestic disputes, including a prior eviction from a home in Cobb County related to a domestic abuse incident. On the day of her murder, Bittinger had confided in a friend about the abuse and her intention to leave Jones. She confessed that he had threatened to kill her if she ever tried to leave.
That evening, Jones stood over Bittinger in the bedroom of their Camp Creek Parkway apartment and shot her in the chest. After the shooting, Jones called 911 and initially claimed that Bittinger had shot herself. However, he later confessed to pulling the trigger. When investigators arrived, they found Bittinger with a gunshot wound to the chest and noted several bruises on her body that indicated prior physical abuse.
Reginald Jones was arrested and charged with murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. In February 2019, at the age of 27, he was convicted of a slew of charges, including murder, felony murder, feticide, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and possession of a firearm by a first offender on probation. For taking the lives of Faith Bittinger and their unborn child, he was sentenced to life in prison plus an additional 40 years.
