Vennessa Lynn Phillips, 35, was fatally shot at a residence on Halo Trace near East Coweta High School in Sharpsburg, Georgia, on the evening of November 21, 2023. Coweta County deputies found her body after a call to the residence; the school was briefly placed on lockdown. Family members describe a tumultuous relationship with her 34-year-old estranged husband, Dustin Allen Phillips, and say Vennessa had recently left him. Her brother says she had reported multiple incidents of physical and mental abuse.

Family members believe Vennessa had taken her four-year-old daughter to visit Dustin at his uncle’s home that night; an argument reportedly preceded the fatal shooting and the child was present and witnessed her mother’s death. Dustin fled, prompting a multi-agency manhunt and a felony murder warrant. He returned to Halo Trace the next night, and deputies say he fired a handgun at them; deputies returned fire and fatally struck him. No deputies were injured. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is handling the officer-involved shooting probe. Vennessa was a mother of five and a grandmother.

If anyone knew Vennessa, her movements that evening, or has information about the events on Halo Trace, please share what is known.