‘Jealousy’ drove woman, 3 men to kidnap and kill Columbus woman before dumping body, sheriff says
Jealousy is what drove four suspects to kill Tameka Skinner after abducting her from Columbus and taking her to Seale, Alabama, where they dumped her body, Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor said Tuesday.
Skinner, 39, the mother of two daughters ages 16 and 17, was fatally shot sometime early Monday before her body was left in a secluded spot in the rural area, Taylor said.
She was kidnapped around 1 a.m. from Huckleberry Hill Apartments at 4570 St. Marys Road in Columbus, where the suspects attacked her and her 28-year-old boyfriend before leaving with Skinner and taking her car, leaving the boyfriend behind, investigators said.
Among the suspects was Demetria Johnson, 30, who had a previous relationship with Skinner’s boyfriend, Taylor wrote in a statement Tuesday.
“At this point in the investigation, the motive appears to be jealousy,” he wrote, adding that Johnson had children with Skinner’s boyfriend. “Demetria recruited the other three men to help her with the kidnapping and killing of Tameka Skinner, to get her out of the way.”
Skinner’s sister, Rashaada Rogers, said Monday that Skinner’s boyfriend shared two children with Johnson. Rogers also thought that was a factor in the homicide.
Taylor identified the other suspects as Jayvonn Phillips, 23, of Seale; and Shaun Johnson, 40, and Joshua Tolbert, 30, both of Columbus. Along with Demetria Johnson, each is charged with kidnapping and capital murder, he said.
The death-penalty charge is based on their allegedly killing Skinner while committing the aggravated offense of kidnapping. All are being held in the Russell County Jail, awaiting a hearing before Circuit Judge David Johnson at 11 a.m. Wednesday, said Madison Grantham, a prosecutor with the county district attorney’s office. She said the four are expected to remain held without bond, as they are facing a capital offense.
Their arrests followed an hours-long investigation across two states involving a car chase from Seale to Wetumpka, where the four suspects were captured after their vehicle wrecked.
Overnight
Skinner’s sister said Skinner and her boyfriend were assaulted as they arrived at the St. Marys Road apartments where Skinner was house-sitting. They had just come from Burger King, and food and packaging from the restaurant were scattered across the parking lot, she said, theorizing the kidnappers had followed them there.
The boyfriend called Rogers at 1:17 a.m. to tell her what happened, she said.
Columbus detectives tracking Skinner’s car learned it was at an address in Russell County, and asked the sheriff’s office for help. Police and sheriff’s investigators were on Porter Road off Alabama Highway 169 in Seale when they passed a red Mercedes SUV and, thinking it out of place, turned back to check it out, the sheriff said.
They ran the tag number and found the Mercedes was registered to Phillips, whose residence was listed as the same address where Skinner’s car was thought to be, Taylor said.
The SUV sped off as investigators tried to stop it, initiating a chase involving eight local and state agencies as the Mercedes raced up Alabama 169 to Wetumpka before wrecking, said the sheriff, who added all four suspects were in custody by 6:30 a.m.
While questioning those captured, investigators continued their search for Skinner and her car, he said. They found Skinner’s partially burned car around 7 a.m., and discovered her body on the ground off Bush Road around 11:30 a.m., the sheriff said.
Bush Road is off Sandfort Road, which connects to Alabama 169 in the same area of Seale. Bush Road and Porter Road are within about three miles of each other, said Taylor.
He would not say precisely where investigators found Skinner’s car: “It was in the proximity of where all this occurred, between Porter and Bush Road,” he said. “They tried to hide it.”
Taylor said investigators think they know which suspect shot Skinner, and they have recovered a handgun they believe was used in the homicide.
This story was originally published July 27, 2020 at 5:20 PM.