In the summer of 2017, the community of Greenwood, Mississippi, was shaken by the violent death of 27-year-old Desmond Touche' Baker. On June 7, 2017, Baker was discovered on a roadside in Leflore County with a fatal gunshot wound to his head. What began as a grim discovery soon unraveled into a story of a robbery that had taken a deadly turn, cutting short the life of a young man.
Investigators with the Leflore County Sheriff's Department launched a thorough investigation into Baker's death. Their efforts led them to two individuals: Quandarius Williams and Renae Marie Canada. The investigation revealed that Williams and Canada had conspired to rob Baker. During the commission of the robbery, the situation escalated, and Williams fatally shot Baker. In an attempt to evade capture, Williams fled to Louisiana, but law enforcement was able to track him down.
In April of 2019, both Quandarius Williams and Renae Marie Canada pleaded guilty to their involvement in the crime that ended Desmond Baker's life. Williams entered a guilty plea to second-degree murder and armed robbery, as did Canada. During the court proceedings, Canada expressed her remorse for her actions and sought forgiveness from Baker's family. The court also heard powerful impact statements from Baker's father and his fiancée, who both articulated the profound grief and anger they felt over their loss.
The Honorable Richard Smith, a Leflore County Circuit Court Judge, handed down significant sentences to both defendants. Williams was sentenced to forty years for second-degree murder and a concurrent forty years for armed robbery, with a total of thirty-five years to be served in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, followed by five years of post-release supervision. Renae Marie Canada received the same sentence as her co-conspirator, with both sentences to be served concurrently. The successful resolution of the case brought a measure of closure to a family torn apart by violence.
