On the evening of July 1, 2016, just one day before her 36th birthday, 35-year-old Jokisha Brown was shot and killed while sitting in her Mercedes-Benz in a strip mall parking lot on Cheshire Bridge Road in Atlanta, Georgia. An aspiring actress and model who had moved from Jacksonville, Florida, with her teenage son to pursue her career, Brown was at the location to get her makeup done for her birthday celebration.
The attack was described by police as a 'very vicious murder' that appeared to be a targeted 'hit.' The assailant fired multiple shots through the front passenger side window before fleeing the scene.
The investigation into Brown's death quickly focused on her ex-boyfriend, Alfredo L. Capote. Three months prior to her murder, in April 2016, Brown had endured a brutal and prolonged assault at the hands of Capote. He had raped her at gunpoint in front of her son at her Duluth home, kidnapped her, and then continued the assault at a hotel in Cobb County. Brown managed to escape the next day by jumping out of a moving car as Capote was driving her to a home in Perry. Warrants were subsequently issued for Capote's arrest on charges of rape, aggravated sexual assault, armed robbery, kidnapping, and false imprisonment. Following Brown's murder, Capote was officially named a person of interest in her death.
After a nationwide manhunt that lasted for over a year, Alfredo Capote was apprehended in Oil City, Louisiana, in April 2017. His arrest was the result of an investigation into a counterfeit check operation he was allegedly running. While in custody in Louisiana, he was also charged with the crimes he committed against Brown in Gwinnett County. Despite being a person of interest, Capote has never been formally charged in connection with Jokisha Brown's murder, and the case officially remains open. In a subsequent turn of events, the Gwinnett County District Attorney's office faced criticism for mishandling the prosecution of the kidnapping and rape charges against Capote, with a judge ultimately denying a motion to dismiss the case.
