Unanswered questions surround the mysterious death of a Black mother-of-5 who was found beaten to death after attending a “football moms” sleepover with 7 white women and 3 men at a home in Forsyth County, GA.
Tamla Horsford, 40, of Cumming, GA, was found face down in a yard after she attended a football moms sleepover on November 4.
Horsford was severely beaten about the head and face. Her body was discovered in the yard by the homeowner’s aunt at 7:30 a.m.
Someone in the home called 911 to report Horsford’s death at 9:30 a.m. – 2 hours after her body was found.
Horsford leaves behind her husband Leander, five sons, Jayden, Payton, Gaven, Braydon, and Mason, ranging in age from 4-14, and a stepdaughter Akieshma.
Three men also attended the sleepover that night, including Jose Barrera, a former pre-trial services officer for the Forsyth County Court.
By coincidence, Barrera’s girlfriend is related to the homeowner of the house where Horsford died.
Barrera was terminated from his job as a pre-trial officer after he accessed personal information of at least 5 people from his work terminal.
Barrera was placed on leave after a Cumming, GA woman filed a complaint accusing Barrera of accessing her personal information and disseminating that information to others.
An investigation later determined that Barrera did not access the woman’s information from his work terminal. But he did use his work terminal to access information about the Horsford murder case in which he was a witness.
He also accessed a stalking complaint which allegedly involved his girlfriend.
“What he did may not rise to a criminal level, but we’re outraged as a sheriff’s office about it,” said Sheriff’s Office Spokesman Major Joe Perkins in an interview with the Forsyth County News.
Court Administrator Robin S. Rooks sent Barrera a letter on Dec. 20, 2018 informing him that he was terminated for “loss of confidence” in his ability to perform his duties as a pre-trial services officer.
No charges were filed against Barrera for that incident nor was he investigated in Horsford’s death.
“It didn’t violate the law,” Perkins said, referring to Barrera accessing personal information. “But it did violate trust with us.”
Horsford’s death never made the local news, despite the strange circumstances of a Black mother-of-5 found dead after a sleepover with 10 white people in Forsyth.
An Internet search for Horsford’s name brings up links to her obituaries and a GoFundMe page.
But a movement is underway on Twitter.com to bring attention to Horsford’s murder under the hashtag #TamlaHorsford.
Black Twitter users are urged to share the #TamlaHorsford hashtag to ask the feds to join the investigation into Horsford’s murder as a hate crime.
