Mother of man killed in Upatoi home invasion faces multiple drug charges, including LSD
The mother of the man killed as armed intruders looking for drugs invaded a home in Columbus’ Upatoi neighborhood has been arrested on multiple felony charges involving an array of drugs.
Besides marijuana and methamphetamine, Autumn Lynn Tillery is accused of possessing with the intent to distribute two prescription drugs as well as LSD, a psychedelic commonly called “acid,” and THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, according to jail records.
The two prescription pharmaceuticals were Pregabalin, a painkiller, and Dextroamphetamine, a central nervous system stimulant, the records say. Tillery also is accused of possessing Oxycontin, another painkiller, and Alprazolam, which is used to treat panic disorders, but she is not alleged to have intended to distribute those drugs, according to her charges.
Tillery also faces misdemeanor charges of maintaining a “disorderly house” and possessing a drug-related object.
She’s set to make her first appearance in Columbus Recorder’s Court at 2 p.m. Tuesday.
Tillery, 37, was arrested at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Columbus Public Safety Center, 510 10th St., and booked into the Muscogee County Jail at 11:02 p.m., according to jail records.
Tillery’s 21-year-old son Cross Henderson died after he was shot in the lower back Jan. 19 as a crew of home invaders forced their way into his mother’s Upatoi Ridge home, holding Henderson and several friends at gunpoint and demanding that they “give it up,” police said.
Witnesses told detectives they recognized some of the suspects, who tried to disguise themselves with T-shirts wrapped around their faces. The shirts slipped down during the confrontation in which some of those with Henderson were pistol-whipped.
The intruders first accosted Henderson and his guests in the home’s backyard, then ordered them inside, where one gunman separated Henderson from the others. That assailant shot Henderson from behind as Henderson yelled for his mother to call 911 and ran up the stairs toward her bedroom, investigators said.
Wounded, he crawled into his mother’s bedroom asking for help, and the intruders then moved the rest of their captives upstairs, demanding to know where Tillery kept a cache of drugs, police said. They left after bagging up what police described as “a large quantity of marijuana.”
Rushed to Piedmont Columbus Regional at 1:31 a.m., Henderson was pronounced dead there at 2:07 a.m., said Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan.
On Jan. 22, police charged six suspects with murder in Henderson’s death: Anthony Foster, 23; Trevonuis Tyriq Williams, 22; Ceuion Marque English, 23; Laqwane Demarcus Kindred, 26; Mercedes Ann Marie Kraft, 17; and a girl, 16, who has not been identified because of her juvenile status.
Each had a record of some previous run-in with the law. English had been charged in a violent home invasion in 2015, but his charges in that case later were dropped.
During a Jan. 28 preliminary hearing for the six suspects in Columbus Recorder’s Court, detectives testified some of the witnesses recognized English, who had attended Northside High School, where Henderson graduated in 2016.
Investigators said the suspects were associated with a gang called “FNG,” which targets drug dealers in robberies. While serving search warrants during the Jan. 22 arrests, police raiding Foster’s home on Conner Road found guns, ammunition, and marijuana packaged as Tillery had described that taken during the home invasion, police said.
This story was originally published February 18, 2020 at 12:04 PM.