On an August night in 2014, the lives of a young Decatur couple were tragically cut short in a brutal and calculated crime. Jeronta Brown, a 23-year-old male, and his 21-year-old fiancée, Briana Brooks, were returning to their home on Colleen Court in the early hours of August 30th after getting something to eat. As they arrived, a van pulled up behind them, and men posing as FBI agents jumped out, forcing the couple into their vehicle.
The couple’s 14-year-old niece and their 8-month-old child, who were with them, managed to escape.
The kidnappers, believing a relative of the couple had recently received a large insurance settlement, made a ransom demand of $150,000. Family members received a chilling phone call from the abductors, who used Brown's phone. Hours later, the demand for money went unmet. Brown and Brooks were discovered seventeen miles away on Ridge Avenue in northwest Atlanta, lying in the street. They had been handcuffed together and each shot in the head, execution-style. Jeronta Brown was pronounced dead at the scene. Briana Brooks, who was seven months pregnant, was found clinging to life and rushed to the hospital. Doctors were able to deliver her baby girl, but Brooks succumbed to her injuries a few days later.
The investigation into the heinous crime led to two suspects, Andre Gay and Richard 'Fathead' Wilson. Both men were parolees with extensive and violent criminal histories, having met in prison. It was later revealed that they were responsible for at least seven deaths in Fulton County. Investigators believed the kidnapping was a targeted attack based on the false information about an inheritance.
In September 2018, Andre Gay, then 44, and Richard Wilson, then 46, pleaded guilty to a multitude of charges, including murder, felony murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, and kidnapping for ransom. By pleading guilty, they avoided a potential death penalty. Both men were sentenced to four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, ensuring they would spend the remainder of their lives in prison for the senseless and brutal murders of Jeronta Brown and Briana Brooks.
