In the pre-dawn hours of March 5, 2024, a 911 dispatcher in Toccoa, Georgia, received an unusual call from a home on Ruby Street. The line was open, but no one spoke directly into the phone. In the background, voices could be heard, suggesting a physical altercation and mentioning that someone had been struck. When Toccoa Police Department officers arrived at the residence around 4:50 a.m., they found two people, Ieshia Chantavia Thornton and Christopher Howell, sitting in a vehicle in the driveway.
Inside the home, officers made a tragic discovery. Eric Trumane King, a 51-year-old Black man, was found unresponsive. He had suffered an apparent gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene. The investigation, which was quickly joined by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, began to piece together the events that led to his death.
Investigators determined that the shooting was the result of a domestic dispute.
King and Thornton, 33, were in a relationship and shared a child. While King resided at the Ruby Street address, Thornton lived elsewhere, and police confirmed there had been no previous domestic violence calls to the home. Howell, 33, was identified as a witness to the incident. Authorities recovered the firearm used in the shooting.
Based on their initial investigation, police arrested Ieshia Chantavia Thornton at the scene and charged her with malice murder. She was transported to the Stephens County Jail and booked.
On April 15, 2024, a Stephens County Grand Jury handed down an indictment against Thornton. The indictment formally charged her with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. As of April 2024, the case is proceeding through the court system.
