A Cherokee County jury has sent 48-year-old Kelvin Demond Williams of Woodstock to prison for the rest of his life after finding him guilty of murdering his wife and attempting to murder her teenage son. On March 27, 2026, Superior Court Judge Shannon Wallace sentenced Williams to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus an additional 100 years and 12 months.
Video and evidence presented at trial
Jurors watched security camera footage that showed Williams firing at his 16-year-old stepson and then fatally shooting his wife, Tenisha Williams. The video also captured the moment prosecutors say he stood over her and said, "You dead, [expletive]?" Prosecutors presented roughly 150 exhibits in all, including the 911 call and body-camera footage, and told the jury Williams fired five shots during the attack. The panel deliberated for about an hour before returning guilty verdicts, as reported by FOX 5 Atlanta.
The night of the shooting
According to the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office, deputies responded to a 911 call at a home on Daventry Crossing at about 10:40 p.m. on July 13, 2025, after the teen reported that his stepfather had shot at him, WSB-TV reported. When deputies arrived, they found Tenisha Williams dead on the kitchen floor and a 4-year-old child asleep in another bedroom. Investigators recovered the gun on the kitchen island. Williams was arrested at the scene and held without bond, according to initial reports.
Prosecutors describe a pattern of control
At trial, prosecutors said the killing capped a long pattern in which Williams isolated his wife and tightly controlled her movements, at one point requiring her to wear a Bluetooth device so he could monitor her. The jury convicted him on 13 counts, including malice murder and first-degree cruelty to children. Judge Wallace imposed the maximum penalties and issued a permanent no-contact order. The district attorney's office detailed the evidence and sentence in a news release, as reported by FOX 5 Atlanta.
Aftermath and local coverage
Hoodline first covered the July 2025 arrest and noted that both children were removed from the scene and placed under state care. With the criminal case now closed by the jury's verdict and the judge's sentence, decisions about the children's long-term placement remain in the hands of Georgia's family-services officials and the courts.
