Alaysha Odom, 20, a young woman from Red Springs, was shot on the night of May 15, 2025, inside the Ramada Inn along North Roberts Avenue/Highway 211 in Lumberton. Police were called at about 10:21 p.m. for a disturbance and found Alaysha Odom, 20, with gunshot wounds; she was taken to a nearby hospital, where she died of her injuries. Her death was noted publicly in the days that followed by her family’s chosen funeral home, which listed Thursday, May 15, 2025, as the date she “departed
this life.”
Investigators quickly focused on a domestic-violence motive. Detectives obtained a warrant for first-degree murder for Deshawn James Armfield, 24, of Fayetteville, identified as the boyfriend of Alaysha Odom, 20. The setting—an interstate-side hotel just off the I-95 Exit 20 interchange—was familiar to local police from prior violent incidents, adding urgency to the search.
Within hours, there was a break: by early afternoon on May 16, 2025, Deshawn James Armfield surrendered at the Lumberton Police Department. He was served with the arrest warrant and booked into the Robeson County Detention Center without bond while the investigation continued. Authorities said they were pursuing all leads even after the arrest to complete the case record.
Remembrances for Alaysha Odom marked the shock and brevity of a life cut short, while public records and local reports documented the essential facts: a Thursday night shooting, a domestic relationship turned deadly, and a suspect in custody facing a first-degree murder charge. In the aftermath, community trackers and memorial sites recorded her name alongside others lost to violence in the region during 2025, underscoring the toll felt across Robeson County.
