On the evening of October 7, 2016, a celebratory birthday dinner for his wife turned tragic for 48-year-old Anthony Welch of Marietta, Georgia. As Welch and his wife, Cynthia, were walking to their car in the parking lot of the Pappadeaux restaurant on Windy Hill Road, they were ambushed by a man who had been hiding between vehicles. The assailant demanded their belongings and grabbed at Cynthia's necklace, which was described as inexpensive costume jewelry.
In an act of protection,
Anthony Welch stepped in front of his wife. The attacker then opened fire, shooting both Anthony and Cynthia. After shooting the couple, the man ripped the necklace from Cynthia's neck and fled the scene on foot. Both victims were rushed to a local hospital, but Anthony Welch was pronounced dead on arrival from a gunshot wound to the heart. Cynthia Welch was treated for a gunshot wound to her arm and survived.
The investigation into the senseless murder quickly focused on identifying the shooter and any accomplices. Investigators reviewed security footage from the restaurant and issued a BOLO for a vehicle with Florida tags that was seen in the area. A few days later, a similar armed robbery occurred in the parking lot of an outlet mall in nearby Woodstock, where a man's chain necklace was stolen. Police believed the two crimes were related, and the description of the vehicle from the Woodstock robbery helped them to identify the suspects.
On October 15, 2016, police located the suspect vehicle at a Red Roof Inn in Marietta, not far from the scene of the murder. When officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop, the driver, Dylan Marquis Ledbetter, accelerated and struck a plainclothes officer. Another officer fired at Ledbetter, striking him three times. The passenger, Demarious Kevauh Greene, fled on foot but was apprehended nearby. A search of the vehicle uncovered a. 380 caliber pistol that was later determined through ballistics testing to be the weapon used to shoot both Anthony and Cynthia Welch.
In May 2019, nearly three years after the murder, a Cobb County jury convicted both Demarious Kevauh Greene, then 23, and Dylan Marquis Ledbetter, then 25, of a slew of charges including malice murder, felony murder, armed robbery, and aggravated assault. Ledbetter was also found guilty of aggravated assault on a peace officer for hitting the officer with the car. At their sentencing, Ledbetter was given a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, while Greene was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole. Both men had already been convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the armed robbery in Woodstock.
