Miguel Andrade, left inset, pleaded guilty to the killing of Rev. Autura Eason-Williams, right inset. (Screenshots from Memphis, Tennessee, CBS affiliate WREG/YouTube)
A Tennessee teenager pleaded guilty in the killing of a pastor and mother of four shot to death in her driveway during a carjacking.
Miguel Andrade, 16, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and carjacking in the killing of Rev. Autura Eason-Williams, 52, and was sentenced to 28 years in prison.
“I wish for you to die. I will never forgive you. I hope all your family … feels the worst pain imaginable with you being locked up. But it will never measure up to my pain,” the pastor’s husband, Derrell Eason-Williams, said in court, Memphis CBS affiliate WREG reported. “I have no remorse for you. I wish the worst for you.”
A second teen is in child services after pleading guilty in the case. A third defendant, Eduardo Tabora, 22, was also charged and is set to appear in court on Feb. 26.
Eason-Williams was shot in the driveway of her home on July 18, 2022. Officers responded to a shooting at 1000 Whitehaven Lane at 4:10 p.m., police said in a news release.
Eason-Williams was found in the driveway suffering from multiple gunshot wounds and died at a hospital. Her vehicle was not at the location.
Video footage captured the assailants and the blue/gray hatchback sedan they were in. The video also showed that after Eason-Williams was shot, one of the suspects drove away in her vehicle.
Police found her car hours later wrecked on a street more than 20 miles away from her house.
Police were quickly led to the suspects just before midnight when officers responded to a carjacking in the 1600 Block of Hunters Rest. The victim told police she was in her car when two males approached, pointed a gun at her, and ordered her out before they drove away in her Chevrolet Malibu.
At about 1:05 a.m., Shelby County Deputies spotted the Malibu and attempted a traffic stop. The vehicle fled, and officers pursued. The Malibu wrecked at 1053 Larry Lane, and three juveniles were arrested.
The juveniles were transported to homicide investigators for further investigation as they matched the description of the suspects from Eason-Williams’ killing, police said.
Andrade was charged with first-degree murder, murder in the perpetration of a robbery, especially aggravated robbery, carjacking, and employment of a firearm during a dangerous felony. An unidentified 16-year-old boy was charged with property theft. A 17-year-old boy was released without charges.
According to WHBQ-TV, citing an affidavit, the killers followed Eason-Williams into her driveway, where they shot her before pulling her out of the driver’s side, getting in her car, and driving off.
A local ABC affiliate reported that longtime friend and fellow Pastor Birgitta French was on the phone with her when she was killed and that she had been laughing before “her laughter turned into scream …. A scream that I never heard before.”
“Then I heard the shots, and her screaming stopped,” she added. “I called my husband, and I said I just experienced the worst thing in my life.”
A grand jury indicted Andrade and Eduard Rodriguez-Tabora for two counts of first-degree murder and especially aggravated robbery in Eason-Williams’ death. The DA’s Office said Andrade would be tried as an adult.
Eason-Williams’ killing shocked the clergy and laity of the Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference, for which she was the district superintendent. More than 200 people gathered to remember her
“The outpouring of tears and love as we remembered Autura was a reminder of what an impact one person can have and the loss that is felt when one among us is taken from us unexpectedly,” Bishop Bill McAlilly of the Nashville Episcopal Area of the United Methodist Church, wrote. “Autura, we will miss your laugh, your leadership, your love, your faithfulness, and your generous spirit. You modeled for us the words of Micah: ‘and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8. We give thanks to God for the ways you led and loved us well.””
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