In a quiet Milledgeville, Georgia apartment complex, the evening of Saturday, February 25, 2017, was shattered by the discovery of a young man's body. Kadeem Anderson Simon, a 28-year-old male, was found deceased in the kitchen of an apartment at Cedar Ridge Apartments on Frank Bone Road. He had sustained multiple gunshot wounds. The resident of the apartment, who was the roommate of a woman Simon knew, returned home from work to the grim scene and immediately alerted the authorities.
It was believed that the fatal shooting had occurred earlier that afternoon. Simon, who was originally from Milledgeville, had been residing in Atlanta with his girlfriend and was back in his hometown to visit family for the weekend.
The investigation into Simon's death quickly focused on a person of interest, Levia Pace, a 42-year-old corrections officer at Baldwin State Prison and a former Detroit police officer. The apartment where Simon was found was Pace's residence, which she shared with a male roommate who was at work during the incident. Initially, there was confusion and a lack of answers for Simon's grieving family and friends, who were shocked to learn of his death and any connection to Pace. While his friends were unaware of any relationship, Simon's family revealed that he and Pace had been in a secret intimate relationship that had supposedly ended more than two years prior.
Pace was initially taken into custody on an unrelated probation violation. After an extensive investigation by the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, she was charged with murder. Pace claimed that she had been a victim of an assault by Simon, which she alleged led to the shooting. However, investigators found that the evidence did not support her statement, nor did it indicate that she was in imminent danger at the time of the shooting. After the incident, Pace drove away from the apartment and did not contact the authorities to report the shooting. Shell casings from a. 40-caliber semi-automatic pistol were recovered from the living room and kitchen of her apartment. The weapon used was the same one she had been allowed to purchase upon her retirement from the Detroit Police Department after 15 years of service.
Initially indicted on charges of malice murder, felony murder, and aggravated assault, Levia Pace ultimately pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter in Baldwin County Superior Court. During the court proceedings, it was revealed that Simon was shot four times. The prosecutor detailed that the evidence suggested Pace began shooting at Simon while he was seated on the couch in her living room. In February 2018, Pace was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the death of Kadeem Simon. As part of her sentence, she was also ordered to pay for his funeral costs upon her release from prison. The resolution of the case brought a measure of justice to Simon's family and friends, who remembered him as an important person in many people's lives.
