Stacey Ian Humphreys
| Stacey Ian Humphreys | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 1973 (age 53) Georgia, U.S. |
| 💼 Occupation | |
| Criminal status | Incarcerated on death row |
Stacey Ian Humphreys (born May 1973)[1] is an American convicted double murderer sentenced to death in the U.S. state of Georgia. On November 3, 2003, Humphreys, who was then out on parole for a 1993 felony theft conviction, attacked two real estate agents in their office in Powder Springs, Georgia, forcing them to strip nude before he shot them, leading to the deaths of 33-year-old Cyndi Williams and 21-year-old Lori Brown. Humphreys was found guilty of malice murder on both counts, and sentenced to death, and currently awaiting to be executed on December 17, 2025.[2]
Murders
On November 3, 2003, Stacey Ian Humphreys committed the murders of two real estate agents in Powder Springs, Georgia.
On that fateful day, Humphreys, who was just released 13 months prior on parole for a 1993 felony theft conviction, walked into a home construction company's sales office while armed with a gun. At that time, two real estate agents, 33-year-old Cynthia "Cyndi" Williams and 21-year-old Lori Brown, were working in the office. Humphreys confronted the two women at gunpoint, forcing them to give up the access codes of their bank cards and to strip themselves naked. Humphreys would first choke Williams with her underwear tied around her neck, before he made her lie down on her hands and knees, and he shot her to death, firing one shot each to her head and back.[3][4]
After murdering Williams, Humphreys also killed Brown, forcing her to kneel with her head facing the floor before he shot her execution-style. After the fatal shootings, Humphreys stole the women's driver's licenses and ATM and credit cards, and he also withdrew more than $3,000 from their accounts. After Humphreys left the office at around 1:30pm, a builder operating an nearby office would later find the bodies of both Williams and Brown, and called the police, thus bringing the murders into revelation. An autopsy report showed that in the case of Williams, one of the bullets went through her lung and heart from her back, while another had penetrated her head, and in the case of Brown, she died from a single gunshot wound to her head, and she also had some hemorrhage in her throat, suggesting she was likely choked or held in a head-lock before the shooting.[3][5]
Arrest and murder charges
Humphreys was later identified as a suspect behind the murders, and he was placed on the wanted list, after a co-worker confirmed that the description of the suspect and his vehicle matched those of Humphreys and his vehicle, and although the police managed to secure a meeting between Humphreys and his parole officer on the morning of November 7, 2003, Humphreys did not attend the meeting and went into hiding from the authorities.[3][6]
On November 8, 2003, five days after the murders, Humphreys was arrested in Hartford, Wisconsin, where he was pursued by police, after deputies recognized him and his vehicle, which matched the description provided by Georgia state authorities in the fugitive list.[7]
After some investigations, the police managed to match the 9 mm bullets found on the women to a Ruger handgun that they recovered from Humphrey's rented Jeep. The police also found bloodstains on Humphreys's gun and truck, and forensic tests matched the blood on the gun to Williams's DNA, and Brown's DNA were matched to the blood on the truck.[8]
Trial and sentencing
By April 2004, the prosecution had intended to seek the death penalty for Stacey Humphreys.[9] Before the trial was to begin, the trial venue was changed from Cobb County to Brunswick County due to pretrial publicity.[10]
On September 18, 2007, the trial of Humphreys began before a Brunswick County jury.[11] During the trial, the prosecution (led by Cobb County assistant district attorney Marc Cella) contended that robbery was the motive of Humphreys to commit the murders, given that Humphreys confessed to spending $565 of the victims' money on his Dodge Durango, and at the time of his arrest, the police found about $800 in cash in Humphreys's possession. Jimmy Berry, Humphreys's lawyer, conceded that his client indeed confessed to the murders, but he submitted that Humphreys could not remember his whereabouts or actions on the date of the double murder, stating that his client suffered from bouts of memory lapses.[12]
On September 26, 2007, the jury found Humphreys guilty of murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, kidnapping and armed robbery.[13][14] Shortly after the conviction of Humphreys, the jury began its sentencing phase, and deliberate whether to sentence Humphreys to life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. Under Georgia state law, offenders could only receive a death sentence on the basis that the jury's vote for capital punishment was unanimous, or a split jury vote would otherwise result in life imprisonment.[15][16]
The prosecution sought the death penalty for Humphreys, stating that he had committed the murders to get money and resolve his car payment, while the defense asked for mercy, claiming that Humphreys suffered from Asperger's syndrome and planned to use the defense of diminished responsibility to argue against the death sentence. During the sentencing hearing, the friends and family members of the victims were allowed to testify in court. Out of all these witnesses, Williams's husband told the jurors that he was still "functionally depressed" by the murder of his wife, and it affected him so much so that he considered resigning from his job and moving. In general, the victim's friends and families spoke up about their grief of losing Williams and Brown, and the murders' impacts on their respective lives.[17]
On September 30, 2007, the jury returned with the verdict, unanimously recommending the death penalty for Humphreys, and he was thus sentenced to death.[18][19]
After the verdict was passed, Cobb County District Attorney Pat Head expressed that the death penalty was an appropriate punishment for Humphreys due to the brutality of the killings, and stated that Humphreys "took away all their humanity".[20] Humphreys was reportedly expressionless and silent when the death sentence was meted out, and in response, the families of Brown and Williams cried and embraced quietly at the time of the ruling, and Brown's father stated that he agreed with the death sentence, stating a terrible crime should end with a harsh penalty, while Williams's sister stated she received some relief with the jury's verdict, even though the grief of their family would not disappear.[21][22]
Death row and scheduled execution
As of 2025, Humphreys remains incarcerated on death row at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison.[23]
Appeals
On March 15, 2010, the Georgia Supreme Court dismissed Humphreys's appeal against his death sentence.[24][3]
On June 11, 2024, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Humphreys's federal appeal.[25]
On October 14, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Humphreys's final appeal.[26][27]
2025 death warrant
On December 3, 2025, Stacey Humphreys's death warrant was signed by Cobb County Superior Court Chief Judge Ann B. Harris, and his death sentence was set to be carried out on December 17, 2025.[28][29]
Humphreys was the first death row inmate scheduled to be executed in Georgia in 2025, more than a year after the state resumed executions in March 2024, when Willie Pye was executed for his ex-girlfriend's murder following a four-year moratorium due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.[30][31]
Aftermath
In April 2004, a scholarship, Lori Brown Memorial Scholarship, was set up in memory of Brown, one of the real estate agents killed by Stacey Humphreys. A high school graduate, who was set to major in business in Kennesaw State University, was awarded the scholarship that same month.[9]
In April 2023, a true crime documentary series, titled The Real Murders of Atlanta, re-enacted the murders of Cyndi Williams and Lori Brown, and first aired through American television network Oxygen.[32]
See also
- Capital punishment in Georgia (U.S. state)
- List of death row inmates in the United States § Georgia
- List of people scheduled to be executed in the United States
References
- ↑ "Inmates Under Death Sentence" (PDF). dcor.state.ga.us. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 13, 2022. Retrieved December 6, 2025.
- ↑ "Georgia sets execution date for man convicted of killing 2 real estate agents in 2003". ABC News. December 3, 2025.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Humphreys v. State [2010], Supreme Court of Georgia (United States).
- ↑ "Georgia sets execution date for man convicted of killing two real estate agents in 2003". The Independent. December 3, 2025.
- ↑ "Georgia sets execution date for man convicted of killing two real estate agents in 2003". CBS News. December 3, 2025.
- ↑ "Murder suspect eludes police". The Atlanta Constitution. November 8, 2003 – via newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Man wanted in Georgia murders arrested in Wisconsin". Rome News-Tribune. November 9, 2003.
- ↑ "Execution date set". Marietta Press Journal. December 3, 2025 – via Press Reader.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Scholarship to honor victim of slaying". The Albany Herald. April 26, 2004.
- ↑ "WTOC-Brunswick Jury Calls for Death Sentence in Cobb Co. Murders". KAIT8. October 1, 2007.
- ↑ "Real estate trial slaying begins". The Albany Herald. September 19, 2007.
- ↑ "Motive in slayings was money, prosecutor says". The Augusta Chronicle. September 19, 2007.
- ↑ "Man Guilty in Killings He Can't Remember". The Oklahoman. September 26, 2007.
- ↑ "Man Convicted In Real Estate Slayings". The Albany Herald. September 26, 2007.
- ↑ "Jurors will consider death penalty in murder of women". The Augusta Chronicle. September 26, 2007.
- ↑ "Death sentence deliberations continue". Rome News-Tribune. September 29, 2007.
- ↑ "Victims' families testify as jury ponders death penalty". The Augusta Chronicle. September 27, 2007.
- ↑ "Death Sentence in Real Estate Killings". The Oklahoman. September 30, 2007.
- ↑ "Man sentenced to death for murders". Eugene Register-Guard. October 1, 2007.
- ↑ "Ga. man sentenced to death for killing two". UPI. September 30, 2007.
- ↑ "Man sentenced to death for murder of real estate agents". Rome News-Tribune. October 1, 2007.
- ↑ "Across Georgia: Man will die for fatal shooting of 2 women". The Augusta Chronicle. October 1, 2007.
- ↑ "Find an Offender: HUMPHREYS, STACEY IAN". Georgia Department of Corrections. Retrieved December 5, 2025.
- ↑ "Court upholds death sentence against killer of two Cobb women". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. March 15, 2010.
- ↑ Humphreys v. Warden [2024], 11th Circuit Court of Appeals (United States).
- ↑ Humphreys v. Emmons [2025], U.S. Supreme Court (United States).
- ↑ "Supreme Court punts on questions involving juries". Courthouse News. October 14, 2025.
- ↑ "Georgia sets execution date for man convicted of killing two real estate agents in 2003". Associated Press. December 3, 2025.
- ↑ "Execution scheduled for man convicted in murders of Cobb real estate agents". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. December 3, 2025.
- ↑ "Georgia executes death row inmate Willie Pye for the 1993 murder of Alicia Lynn Yarbrough". CNN. March 20, 2024.
- ↑ "Georgia executes death row inmate Willie Pye for the 1993 murder of Alicia Lynn Yarbrough". 11 Alive News. December 4, 2025.
- ↑ "'A Brutal Scene': 2 Women Who Worked In Atlanta Real Estate Sales Office Shot To Death". Oxygen. April 14, 2023.
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