Teen murdered in home invasion

In this episode of Crime Watch Daily Updates: Vanessa Malone went by the name Honey, and that perfectly illustrated her bubbly and friendly persona. However, she died at the hands of a gunman, leaving her family and friends mourning.

In 2017, I traveled to the Atlanta suburb of Stone Mountain, Georgia, to learn more about Honey Malone’s death.

Despite its pretty name, Stone Mountain hasn’t always been the safest city, and Honey would, unfortunately, be the victim of a brutal and tragic crime.

On October 23, 2012, the 18-year-old came home from work and went over to her friend’s apartment. While there, several masked men allegedly kicked down the door in an apparent home invasion and tied up Honey’s friends with a belt, then left them in the shower. Honey, however, was shot in the back and the chest, then dragged through the apartment into the master bedroom closet.

Detectives believe it was a drug deal and home invasion gone wrong.

It would take nearly eight years for police to arrest a suspect in her death.

On April 3, 2020, the DeKalb County Police Department took 34-year-old Donald Ashe into custody on charges of second-degree murder and making false statements. He was initially denied bond, but in June 2020, a judge granted him bond, and he was later released. Donald reportedly received thousands of dollars in PPP loans, which were given out at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of November 2022, he was still awaiting trial.

Let’s look back at the fatal shooting of a young woman who was in the wrong place at exactly the wrong time.