On May 24, 2024, 67-year-old Kathryn Garton Holmes from Greensboro, North Carolina, was fatally shot during a planned transaction arranged through an online marketplace. Holmes had driven to the 500 block of Denny Road to meet a buyer, later identified as 31-year-old Troy Marquise Gillard. During the encounter, Gillard allegedly shot Holmes in the neck while she was in her vehicle.
The injury left her paralyzed, causing her to lose control of her 2022 Volkswagen Taos SUV, which subsequently crashed into a ditch. Emergency responders transported Holmes to a local hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries two days later.
Following the incident, law enforcement initiated an investigation that led them to Gillard. He was arrested on June 6, 2024, and charged with first-degree murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon, discharging a firearm into occupied property, possession of a firearm by a felon, and fugitive from justice. Authorities revealed that Gillard had a familial connection to an unoccupied home near the crime scene, which he reportedly entered after the shooting. Court documents indicated that Gillard stole Holmes' engagement ring and wedding band, valued at over $10,000, during the robbery.
Gillard's criminal history includes a 2016 guilty plea for first-degree felony carjacking. At the time of his arrest for Holmes' murder, he was held without bond in the Guilford County Jail. If convicted of the charges related to Holmes' death, Gillard faces the possibility of life imprisonment without parole or the death penalty. Holmes' tragic death marked the 17th homicide in Greensboro for the year 2024, prompting discussions about the safety of online marketplace transactions and the importance of designated safe exchange locations.
