In July 2012, Hassan Williams, a 21-year-old male and a recently discharged U.S. Army veteran, traveled from his home in South Carolina to Thomasville, Georgia. He believed he was visiting Kiera Shanise Graham, a woman he had met while they both served in the military, with the intention of rekindling a relationship. Having just returned from a tour in Iraq, Williams had told his mother he was going to visit friends in Virginia, leaving his family unaware of his actual destination. He drove through the night in his recently purchased dream car, a 1995 Mercedes, to meet Graham.
Upon his arrival at Graham's apartment on the morning of July 17, Williams was met not by a welcoming friend, but by a meticulously planned robbery. Graham's new boyfriend, Alvin Davis III, and his brother, Chaquel Jaquez Cook, had conspired to set up Williams as a 'lick,' a term for a robbery victim. Williams was lured to a vacant house on Metcalfe Avenue, where the plan tragically escalated. He was shot execution-style, with gunshot wounds to his back and the back of his head, and left behind the house. While authorities were at the murder scene, Williams' charred Mercedes was discovered on Millpond Road, having been intentionally set on fire.
The investigation quickly led Thomasville police to the perpetrators. Within days, four individuals were arrested: Kiera Shanise Graham, the woman who lured Williams to his death; Alvin Davis III; his brother, Chaquel Jaquez Cook; and Graham's roommate, Kimberly Deshaundra Williams. They faced a host of charges, including murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault, hijacking a motor vehicle, and arson. An additional charge of cruelty to children was added because Graham's five-year-old daughter was present during the commission of some of the crimes.
In the subsequent legal proceedings, Kimberly Williams testified for the prosecution, providing a detailed account of the events leading up to the murder. She was later sentenced to probation. In 2013, Kiera Shanise Graham, Alvin Davis III, and Chaquel Jaquez Cook were convicted for their roles in the murder and robbery of Hassan Williams. The two brothers and Graham were sentenced to life in prison. Davis confessed to multiple people that he shot Williams, claiming his brother shot the victim first in the back, and he delivered a final shot to the head to end his suffering. Alvin Davis III's conviction was later upheld by the Georgia Supreme Court in 2019.
