A Georgia man was captured in Florida and charged with the murder of a 17-year-old girl whose body was found in a Lamar County cemetery on Sunday.
According to Crime Online, authorities tracked 23-year-old Jaylan Jashad Ray to Tallahassee, Florida where he was arrested on Wednesday, and is awaiting extradition back to Georgia.
Lamar County officials says D’Shaunti Kyanni Hunter was shot at least once in the head. Her body was found in a cemetery across the road from Unionville Church in Barnesville, about 50 miles south of Atlanta.
Hunter’s body was found on Sunday afternoon, about 40 miles from her home in Ellenwood, Georgia.
Family members were distraught over the news of her murder. “This is crushing us,” Hunter’s aunt, Jazmine Johnson, told the Atlanta Journal Constitution on Tuesday. “They stole from us. This is wrong. This is way more than wrong.”
Ray is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated assault. He is being held without bond in a Tallahassee Jail.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms told the AJC, “I am deeply concerned about the spike that we are seeing in our homicides.”
Bottoms recently unveiled a plan to combat violent crime in her city.
“The spike in violent crime in Atlanta and across the country must be addressed by both immediate and long-term actions,” Bottoms said in a news release. “The One Atlanta: One APD Immediate Action Plan will address crime, and also the systemic issues that lead to violence.”
Atlanta’s crime wave has earned the city a nickname, “Chiraq South.”
