In the late summer of 2026, the life of 25-year-old Undrea Willis was tragically cut short in Montgomery, Alabama. On the morning of Monday, August 31, 2026, police and paramedics were called to the 1800 block of Gibbs Circle within the Gibbs Village public housing community shortly before 9:00 a.m. Inside an apartment, they discovered a grim scene. Undrea Willis and another young woman, 19-year-old Nalyn Reeves, had both been shot and were pronounced dead at the scene.
The two women were the victims of a brutal act of violence that would soon be classified as the city's 36th and 37th homicides of the year.
The investigation into the double homicide quickly pointed to a suspect with a history of domestic turmoil. Within two days, on September 2, the Montgomery Police Department arrested 20-year-old Tarus Giles Jr. and charged him with four counts of capital murder in connection with the deaths of Undrea Willis and Nalyn Reeves. The motive for this tragic event appears to be rooted in a troubled past between Giles and Nalyn Reeves, who was his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his 10-month-old son. Court documents revealed that in the year prior to her death, Reeves had twice sought protection-from-abuse orders against Giles, citing physical assaults and threats on her life. However, for reasons including Giles not being properly served with the paperwork, a lasting protective order was never put in place.
On that fateful August morning, investigators allege that after the women locked the front door, Giles forced his way into the apartment through a living room window. Tragically, Nalyn Reeves' 10-month-old baby was present in a bedroom of the apartment when the shooting occurred but was found physically unharmed. The capital murder charges against Giles reflect the gravity of the crime, with allegations including murder in the presence of a child under 14, the killing of multiple victims, and murder committed during a burglary. Following his arrest, Tarus Giles Jr. was placed in the Montgomery County Detention Facility and held without bond. The case highlights a devastating outcome in a documented history of domestic abuse, culminating in the deaths of two young women. As the legal process begins, the charges against Giles stand as an accusation, and he is considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
