DeKalb County police announced an arrest in the 2012 shooting death of 18-year-old Vanessa “Honey” Malone.
Donald Ash, 34, was arrested at 4:30 p.m. Friday, April 3, and was being held at the DeKalb County jail, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
The DeKalb County police did not release details regarding how investigators linked Ash to Malone’s murder.
Malone was shot multiple times when she walked into a Stone Mountain apartment and interrupted a home invasion in progress.
According to AJC.com, Malone entered a unit at Hampton Village Apartments on Tree Mountain Parkway and interrupted three to six armed robbers who had tied up the apartment’s occupants.
The couple, who’d been in bed, said the men broke in armed with handguns and shotguns. Moments later, they heard Malone scream and gunshots rang out.
The woman told police she heard the men take Malone to the back of the apartment after the shots.
The couple waited several minutes before untying themselves and calling police, she said.
Malone’s murder went viral on social media, and spawned a “Justice for Honey” Facebook group with 137,000 members.
Malone’s cold case was featured on The Dr. Oz Show last month.
Last Friday, Malone’s mother pleaded for justice for her daughter.
“You still have time to do the right thing and speak up,” she wrote on Facebook. “I am just saying it would make you feel better and help get all those involved arrested.”
