In the fall of 2015, the life of a young Atlanta mother, Tiffany Bailey, was tragically cut short, leaving a lasting wound in the hearts of her loved ones. The 24-year-old woman was shot in the head in her southwest Atlanta apartment on November 7, 2015, in the presence of her three young children. Despite medical efforts, Bailey succumbed to her injuries two days later on November 8, 2015.
Initially, her live-in boyfriend, Deunta Grier, who was 26 at the time, attempted to mislead
investigators by fabricating a story about a home invasion. He claimed that he was a target for robbery due to his involvement in selling marijuana, which led to Bailey being shot. However, the pieces of his story did not fit together for the police. The turning point in the investigation came when Bailey's six-year-old daughter bravely recounted that her mother and Grier had been fighting when the fatal shot was fired. This courageous testimony, along with a confession Grier made to a friend, shifted the focus of the investigation squarely onto him.
The weight of his actions appeared to become too much for Grier to bear. In a surprising turn of events, he attended Tiffany Bailey's funeral on November 17, 2015, at the Workhouse of Faith Missionary Baptist Church. It was there that he approached an off-duty police officer who was also in attendance and expressed his desire to turn himself in for Bailey's murder. He was taken into custody at the funeral. In a separate, chaotic incident outside the church on the same day, shots were fired, though no one was injured.
Deunta Grier was subsequently charged with murder, cruelty to children, and other offenses. During his trial, the harrowing details of the case were presented. In July 2016, a jury found him guilty on all counts. For the murder of Tiffany Bailey and the trauma he inflicted on her children, Deunta Grier was sentenced to life in prison plus an additional 15 years.
