Angel Renee Harris hid from law enforcement for 16 years only to be betrayed by her fingerprint.
The Decatur woman was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison for shooting Anthony Roberts at a Marietta apartment in 2001, according to a Cobb County district attorney’s office news release.
The 35-year-old woman pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. When she was arrested in October 2016, she told investigators the one shot to the head was an accident.
READ | Cobb wife sentenced for shooting her husband in the head twice
Roberts’ body was found, eight days decomposed, inside the Ridge Pointe Apartments on Aug. 3, 2001, after neighbors complained of a smell coming from the unit, according to news reports at the time.
Marietta police didn’t find a gun at the scene and the apartment door was locked.
READ | Trio indicted for allegedly killing man, 20, at Cobb house party
Crime scene technicians lifted a fingerprint from the site of the crime, but it did not match anyone in the national database at the time.
Years later, Harris was convicted of a crime in Fulton County and her prints were added to the database. The next time the print from Roberts’ apartment was run through the system, it matched to Harris. In an interview, Harris admitted shooting Roberts but said it was an accident.
At first, she told police she didn’t know who Roberts was.
Harris will have five years of probation when she is released from prison.
Like Cobb County News Now on Facebook | Follow on Twitter
In other news...
About the Author
