(gentle music) - Hey guys, welcome back to my channel. So happy to have you here. If you are new, welcome. So, today I'm talking about
a very highly requested case, and this one I have to warn you in advance is so frustrating. It's incredibly sketchy
how everything went down. And I know you guys are gonna
have a lot of thoughts on it, just like I did. So, today we're gonna be
talking about Tamla Horsford. And again, just a warning, this one is very, very frustrating. Before we get into today's video. I wanted to let you guys know
that I do have another way for you guys to give back to Her Justice. You guys have been asking me if I'm going to do this
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with them again this year. And thank you to everyone who
has bought one in the past. If you are not familiar with Her Justice, I will leave a link below so
you can go check them out. They're an incredible organization that provides free legal
services to women in need. So, all the information
about that will be below. But let's go ahead and get into this case 'cause we have a lot to go over here. So, Tamla Iana Horsford was
born in 1978 in the Caribbean. At age 11 in 1989, her
family moved to the Bronx, and she later moved to Florida when she met her husband, Leander. Tamla went by Tam a lot
of the time for short, and Leander went by Lee often times. Lee actually has another daughter from a previous relationship,
and she was pretty young when Tamla first came into the picture, but Tamla raised her as her
own from the very beginning and always had so much love
and care for his daughter. The two of them ended up really having a typical mother-daughter relationship, even though they were
not related by blood. - Tammy raised her. I mean, from the time she was little. So, I mean she calls her Mom and, you know, and Tammy
loved her like her own blood. - Eventually Lee got a new
job in Cumming, Georgia, and they all moved there
and were very excited to start a new life. And they started building
onto their family, and Tamla ended up
having another five boys. She was a wonderful mother and truly cared for all of her kids and gave them so much time and attention. Tamla was also described as having a larger than life personality. She was incredibly fun, funny, witty, just an
overall well-rounded person. She was also loving kind,
charismatic, selfless, and she was very inclusive
and just open to everyone that she came in contact with. And being a stay-at-home mom, she was obviously very
protective of her kids and very proactive and
involved their lives. She was always involved in
their sports, in their school, and just loved being a mom. - [Lee] Constantly up and
down the field, running down. She would have her bullhorn
out there, you know. Favorite thing was can't stop greatness. You know, she would always, that was her favorite line on the bullhorn because anytime the refs
would make a bad call. And then we'd answer back. She'd say "can't stop greatness." - So, their daughter grew up, and she actually was expecting
her first child in 2018. So, Lee and Tamla were
about to be grandparents, and she was really
looking forward to that. She was a natural caretaker, so becoming a grandmother
was just something that she had been always
looking forward to and very, very anxiously anticipating. In 2018, Tamla and Lee were
living in Forsyth County in Cumming, Georgia. And I think it's important
that we start out by saying that this county has a really
long history of racism. Going back to 1912, Rob Edwards was actually
lynched in the area for allegedly raping a young white woman. And there was no actual
evidence tying him to this crime at all. And hundreds of people
in the community gathered and watched this happen. And it seemed that he was only convicted because he was the closest black man to the scene of the crime. And after this, a ton of people of color in
Forsyth were run out of town through threats of
executions, fear of arrest, and just ongoing violence
and terror in the community. And it was actually deemed at the time to be one of the most successful instances of racial cleansing in the United States after the population went from
1,098 black residents in 1912 to less than five in
a span of a few years. And sadly decades later, the county remained as
racist as it's ever been. And a march was held to bring attention to the discrimination
and racial injustices that were happening in 1987. And protestors were met with
a bunch of angry members of the community who wanted
to keep the town pure and free from color. - God bless America! Keep Forsyth County white! (crowd cheers) - So, that kind of gives you
a little bit of a background. And as of 2020, Forsyth remains a place that is dominated by white majority with only 4% of its population
representing people of color. I'm sure there will be
people out there who say that that information is irrelevant. I happen to think it's
incredibly relevant to this case and the way that it was handled. So, let's start with October of 2018. Tamla was about to become a grandmother, and she was over the moon about that. And one day she receives an
e-vite to a friend's party. And this friend is named Jeanne. I use friends kind of loosely because the two of them had
only met in August of that year, so they really barely knew
each other at this point. And they only knew each other because their sons played
on the same football team. The only time that they
had ever spent together was on Saturdays during football games. But Tamla was always
looking for new friends, always super friendly to
everyone that she met. And she'd actually been
to Jeanne's house once. The weekend before the party, she and a few of her sons
went over to their house for a pumpkin carving party. And this was like the first time they had ever really hung out
outside of a football game. So, this party that Jeanne invited her
to was a sleepover party. It was Saturday, November 3rd, 2018, and the idea was that
everyone would sleep over so that they were safe because they planned
on drinking that night, and they didn't want
obviously anyone driving home under the influence. Jeanne thought it would be a
good way for everyone to relax, enjoy themselves, you know, wear pajamas, and kind of be a kid again with this whole sleepover party theme. So, the party was actually
coordinated by Jeanne's friend, Stacy Smith. And it was gonna be at Jeanne's house, but Stacy kind of figured
out what they were gonna do and invited everyone there. Stacy invited eight women, so there were 10 total there, including her and Jeanne. And their names were
Madeline, Nichole, Marcy, Bridget, Jennifer, Sarah,
Paula, and of course Tamla. And Tamla was the only black woman that was going to the party. And although everyone knew
Jeanne, most of them knew Stacy, some of them were just kind
of meeting for the first time. Now this party originally started as a kind of no boys allowed type theme, and it was supposed to just be women but that ended up changing. There were two men there
that night, Jose Barrera, who is Jeanne's boyfriend, and Tom Smith, who is Stacy's husband. And even though they
weren't supposed to be there that night, Jose wasn't feeling well, and he told Jeanne that he
would just stay in the basement, watch the LSU versus Alabama game, and he would stay out of their way. - [Jeanne] Those two were
originally supposed to go out and hang out together. And then I forget which one of them was
having stomach issues, so they said, "Do you mind
if we just watch the game "in the basement? "We'll stay away from y'all." 'Cause I have a theater room down there. - And then Tom also decided
to come and hang out with Jose because Stacy's sister was
having a gender reveal party at their house, and he wanted to be outta
the way for that as well. So, they figured there was
really no harm in having them, you know, hang out in the basement. And the LSU versus Alabama game
was a big part of the reason that Jeanne even threw this party because she was a big LSU fan. Also that was a good weekend for Jeanne because her four kids were
staying at their father's house. And, you know, she had
the house to herself other than Jose and Tom in the basement. - [Jeanne] And the game
was Saturday night. And I wanted to watch the game and knew that we would all drink and said, "Why don't we just do it here at my house "as a pajama party/slumber party "so no one has to risk
drinking and driving "or calling a Uber." And that my kids would all
be at their father's house, so we had enough rooms for
everyone to sleep here. - So the day of the party, Jeanne said that she was
out and about all day, and she came home to Stacy, Nichole, and Madeline kind of
setting up for the party, which was set to start at 7:00 PM. When she got home, she went upstairs to
get ready for the party. And when she came back down, pretty much everyone was already there. This was approximately 7:00, 7:30-ish. So, Pamela texted Jeanne
and Stacy and let them know that she was gonna be
running a little bit late. And she ended up getting
there around 8:00, 8:30-ish. Some of the women had their
husbands drop them off, and they were gonna pick
them up the next morning. Tamla just drove herself over there. Before going to the party,
Tamla had expressed to Lee that she wasn't super thrilled
about going to this party. She didn't really wanna go. But she was such a nice person that she didn't wanna offend
anybody or make them think, you know, she didn't like
them, so she decided to go. Lee actually also had
plans to go out that night, but he ended up canceling
to watch the kids because he felt like Tamla
did deserve to, you know, go out and have a good time because she was such a
good mother to her kids and always, always taking care of them and didn't really take
much time for herself. So, he decided to sacrifice his plans. He was a little bit upset about that, but, you know, he got over it, and the two of them said
their "I love you"s, they kissed goodbye, and Tamla was off. So, everyone at the party
said that Tamla came in in a great mood, that
she seemed very energetic and excited to be there. And like I said earlier, she was such an outgoing, fun person that she was definitely the type that you would want to come to your party. - [Bridget] She came hopping
along into the front door, trying to take her boots off
to be considerate, new carpet. So, she was hopping around
trying to get her boots off, left them at the whatever you
call that, hutch or whatever there in the dining room. She brought her bag in, laid it down behind the back side
of the sectional couch and insisted that she was
ready to put her pajamas on. So, she put her pajamas on. - And she was wearing a white onesie with gray paw prints all over it and also had on black and red socks with multicolor star patterns on them. So, like most of the
others who were there, Tamla didn't know everyone
who was attending the party, so she introduced herself to
anyone she didn't know yet. And this included Sarah,
Marcy, and Nichole, and she had also only
met Bridget once before, so she kind of reintroduced
herself to her. Tamla ended up bringing
a bottle of tequila, a really nice bottle as a gift for Jeanne. And Jeanne did not really
appreciate this gift at all. Jeanne especially hated tequila and made it very clear to Tamla that she was not going to be drinking it. And at one point Tamla went
out to smoke a cigarette and all the women kind of
passed around the bottle and no one really drank it. So, Tamla ended up being the only one to really drink it that night, and she had several tequila
waters throughout the night. - [Jeanne] She brought a
bottle of tequila as my gift and said it was a tequila from Mexico. And I said, "Thank you,
but I don't drink tequila." And she said, "No, you don't understand. "It's good." And she opened it and I smelled it, and I threw up in my mouth and said, "No." So, she offered it to other people 'cause she's the life of the party. She's always been the life of the party. And everybody's like,
"Can't drink tequila." - [Nichole] Stacy and Jeanne,
I can remember it vividly, they were over here by the
bar, and they smelled it, and I saw Jeanne go like
this, like "no way." Number one, she doesn't like tequila, but number two, she was like,
"I'm not drinking that stuff." And then same with Stacy. So, then all of us were
sitting on the couch and Tam was on the back
porch smoking at the time, and I was sitting on the couch right here and they all said, "Smell this stuff. "You've gotta smell this. "It's awful." And every one of us
smelled it and we're like, "I don't want anything to do with that." You know? And then that was it. I didn't see her make a drink, but I wasn't paying attention. So, nobody was doing shots that I had seen not while I was here, so
I didn't even see that. - [Officer] Thank you. - [Nichole] But that's, that's
the only liquor that I saw that she was excited about. She had brought it, and it
was imported from Mexico. She was all excited. - The only two women who
were not drinking at all that night were Sarah and Nichole and that was because they
were planning to go home. They did not wanna spend the night. Now pretty much everyone
there has a similar story of how the night went. They just hung out, had
snacks, watched the game. And throughout the night, people started having more and more fun because they were drinking more and more and kind of relaxing around each other. Pretty much everyone handled
their liquor pretty well, kept it under control
except for one guest, and that was Jennifer. It was very clear, very quickly that she already had too much to drink. Now she had a history
with alcohol as well. She had actually received
a DUI in the past, so no one seemed to be too shocked that she was the one to
drink too much right away. And throughout the night, Tamla went outside several
times to smoke a cigarette. And even though she was
the only one who smoked, according to people at the party, she normally wasn't alone outside. Someone normally went with her. - [Officer] Do you remember
her going out on the deck at any time to smoke cigarettes? - [Marcy] Yeah. I sat, that's when I sat down and talked, like I had just met her, but
I like early in the night, we went out on the deck for
probably about 10, 15 minutes. And we were just talking and everything 'cause her son's name is
Gavin, my son's name was Gavin. So just talking about
silly stuff like that. And she's a Libra, I'm a Libra, so we thought it was cool. And then we went inside and
she kind of like wandered off and like with the other girls and just started mingling
with all the girls. - So, Madeline, who's
actually Jeanne's aunt, decided to smoke some weed with Tamla at the beginning of the night. And Stacy also said that
she had just one puff. However they had to stop because
Jeanne saw them doing it, went outside and got really
upset and made them stop. And Stacy actually does admit
to having one puff as well. And the reason that Jeanne got so upset about them smoking weed
is because Jose was there, and Jose was actually a
pretrial probation officer in Forsyth. Now, even though Jose and Tom said that they would spend the night out of the way of the party,
downstairs watching the game, they did come up to eat
with the girls at halftime. Madeline told them that
they were welcome to eat. She had made gumbo for everyone. But she did ask them to leave at one point and go grab some ice at the gas station because they were all out
of ice for their drinks. So after this, the night
continues with all the women and the men on the main floor of the house watching the end of the game. So, at one point, Tamla
decides to FaceTime Lee and say goodnight. She also has all her
kids get on the FaceTime and say goodnight to her as well. And she has pretty much
everyone at the party hop on the FaceTime as well and
just say hi to her kids. And everyone said that
Tamla was very energetic and seemed to be happy to be there. Even Lee who said, you know, earlier, she didn't seem to wanna go,
said that once she was there, she seemed like she was
really having a good time and seemed in good spirits. Tamla also made a second
FaceTime call later that night to her daughter as well. You know, just saying hello. So, the last person to actually arrive to the party was Paula. And she came in around 10
o'clock, so pretty late. And by this time, Sarah and Nichole, who had always been planning to leave, were getting ready to leave. The two of them have estimated that they left the house around 10:30 PM. However, this is right around the time that Tamla was FaceTiming Lee. And so it's not exactly
clear if that's actually when they left, but probably
pretty close to this time. So, once the football game had ended, those who were still there decided to play a game of Cards Against Humanity. And obviously that's a
really fun game to play when people are drinking, but it can also get kind
of hard to keep up with and, you know, stick
to when there's people who are really drunk in the group. So, the game didn't last too long, but while they were playing, everyone said they had a good time. (everyone laughs) - A live studio audience. (everyone laughs) My soul. - My soul, that was me! (everyone laughs) You guys are all fucked up. - I love that you picked that for me. You know me so well. - After the game, everyone
was getting kind of tired and started getting ready for bed. Marcy actually took Jen to bed because she was by far the
most drunk of everyone there. and passed out shortly
after putting it on. After this, everyone else
started kind of winding down, and it was about 1:00, 1:15 at this point. So, when they all start
talking about going to bed and deciding who's gonna sleep where, Tamla mentions that she
would rather go home. But Stacy, Tom, and Jeanne
were not into that idea. They said she needs to stay the night and not get behind the wheel of a car since she had been drinking. When Lee found out that
Tamla had wanted to go home that night, he said
that she would have been absolutely fine to drive home and would've made it home safely. - One thing I do know
about my wife and this is, I mean, it may not be a good thing, but we're both from the islands, and we both grew up drinking, and she could handle her liquor. She could handle, I mean, and she would drink
like straight shots of tequila, but my wife would've made it home. I can guarantee you that 100%. 100%. - She would've made it home? - Oh yeah. 100% she would've made it home. - Eventually Tamla
agreed to stay the night. And Jeanne said that she just
didn't seem ready for bed. She was telling other people there that she wanted them to stay up with her and hang out for a little longer. But the whole group was really
insistent on going to bed. They were tired. So, most of them hit
the sack at that point. Jean and Jose said their
goodnights to everybody, and they went upstairs to their room. And around that time, Stacy said that Tamla seemed very upset about not having a sleeping buddy, that most people were
sleeping with someone else at the party and she was
gonna be sleeping by herself. So, Stacy says that she put
her phone next to Tamla's in the living room so that "their phones
could sleep together," whatever that means. - [Stacy] I left my phone downstairs and because she said Tom's selfish 'cause she didn't have a sleeping buddy. So, we put our phones there. She said, "Well, our
phones can sleep together." - [Officer] I gotcha. - [Stacy] We laughed and hugged. And I, she said she was going
smoking, and I went to bed. - So at that point, Stacy
and Tom go off to bed and Tamla and Bridget are
the only ones still up. At this point, Tamla and
Bridget are just hanging out in the kitchen together talking, and at some point Jose goes
down to get his phone charger from the basement 'cause
he left it down there, and he saw them in the kitchen, didn't think anything of
it, goes back upstairs. - [Jose] I went down to the basement to grab my phone charger that
I left in the theater room. And the staircase is kind of, I would say, right underneath each other
going from basement to upstairs. So I mean, I didn't really
look at who was still up. I mean, I came up from the
basement, shut the door, saw Tamla in the kitchen, just glancing over and
saw that she was there. - [Officer] Who was she with? - [Jose] I just saw her by herself. But from that, I guess that
vantage point from coming up from the basement, I mean,
there is that wall there. So, I just kind of saw
her through here kind of up where the stove would be. But I can't see anything
back in the kitchen. And then I just went upstairs. - So, Bridget actually decided
not to spend the night there after all, so she was still
up and hanging out with Tamla because she was waiting for
her husband to pick her up. She said the reason she
didn't wanna stay the night is because she had really bad anxiety and felt like she had to keep
one eye open while she slept if she was at someone else's house. So, her and Tamla were
hanging out in the kitchen, waiting for her husband Gary
to get there and pick her up. And Tamla was actually
having a bowl of gumbo, and they were just kind of hanging out. She told Bridget that after
she finished her gumbo, you know, her plan was to
go smoke a cigarette outside and then head to bed. And that's what Bridget thought
she was doing when she left. When Gary arrived to pick up Bridget, Tamla actually, according to Bridget, walked her over to the
door, gave her a hug, and a kiss on the cheek
and said goodnight. Now something pretty interesting and also very helpful in this case is that Jeanne's house has
an Xfinity security system that logs any time the door
to the house was opened or closed, and this is just for any
doors leading to the outside, so not doors within the house, just the front door and back door. The system also sends
alerts to Jeanne's phone with the name of the door
that was opened or closed and the time that it was opened or closed. So, the system recorded
the front door opening and closing at 1:47 AM, which is consistent with the timeline of Bridget being picked up by Gary. Then two minutes later at 1:49, the back door was opened and
then shut one minute later at 1:50, which is consistent
with Tamla going outside to smoke a cigarette and then
shutting the door behind her. A few hours later, the system ends up picking
up the front door opening and closing at 4:10 AM, which is actually when
Marcy left Jeanne's house to go back home. Marcy said that she left early because she started a
new job working at Coach at the local outlet mall, so she said that she had set
an alarm to get up and go home so she could shower and get
ready for her second day on the job. But we actually find out later on that her shift doesn't
actually start until 10:30 AM, so 4:30 seems pretty early,
pretty out of the ordinary to be going home and
getting ready for work. But who knows? So, Paula, who was last
to arrive at the party, ends up being the next to
leave, and she left at 7:30 AM. So, sometime between 8:00 and 8:30 AM, Stacy and Tom wake up and
they head home to get back to their kids because her
sister was watching them. Before she left, Stacy
went into the living room to grab her phone and she, you know, had left it
next to Tamla's for the night so that their phones could
sleep together or whatever. And she remembers seeing her phone and being happy that Tamla
decided to stay the night. So Madeline, who again is Jeanne's aunt, wakes up between like 8:00 and 8:30 AM, and she kind of lingered in bed for a bit before actually getting up to do her typical morning routine, which involves making coffee. And during this process,
Madeline walks by the window and sees that Tamla is
outside on the ground, face down, in her
pajamas, and isn't moving. And strangely enough, the first thing that Madeline
decides to do is get down on her hands and knees and pray. - [Madeline] I went, get
the coffee maker started, and I went stand by the window, and I was just staring out the window, and I saw those dalmatian pajamas, but I couldn't remember her name 'cause that was the
first time I'd met her. So, I didn't start the coffee. I got on my knees and I said a prayer. - Obviously many people are
upset and just weirded out that the first thing she
decides to do is pray. It seems like in a situation like that, you would immediately take action and try to help the person. Why wouldn't she go check and
see if Tamla was breathing, see if she needed any help? Instead she starts praying. It's just weird. After she finished praying, she gets up and she goes and
tells Jose what she has seen. Madeline said that when she
got to Jose and Jeanne's room that she could hear water running. She thought it almost sounded
like they were taking a shower and she kind of lightly
knocked on the door. So, she decides that
instead of interrupting them 'cause they could have been
in the shower together, that she was gonna go downstairs and briefly look at Tamla one more time. She said she just went down
there for about a minute and then went right back up to their room. This time she knocked a little louder and Jeanne told her to
go ahead and come in. Then Madeline said she needed
to talk to Jose right away. Jeanne asked her why she
needed to talk to him, and she said she saw her
friend "from the islands" laying outside on the ground, not moving. - [Madeline] So then I went
and knocked on the door louder. - [Officer] You never went out there? - [Madeline] No, no. And that's when I told Jose that. I knocked on the doors,
Jeanne said, "come in," and they were sitting up in bed, and I said, "Jose,"
and I looked at Jeanne, and I said, "I just wanna talk to Jose. "I want him to come downstairs with me." And Jeanne said, "Why? "What's wrong?" And I said, "Your friend, "your friend from the islands
is laying in the backyard "and she's not moving." - This whole running water
thing has been very confusing because Jeanne and Jose said
that they were not showering, that they were actually asleep, and they were woken up
by Madeline's knocking. I don't know what the
sound she was hearing was or if she even heard a sound or maybe the water was
coming from somewhere else. I don't know. Jose said that as soon as
Madeline told him what she saw, he quickly put on clothes
and ran downstairs to see. And Jeanne also said that
she got up immediately, put on her clothes, and asked Madeline if
she needed to call 911. They ended up calling 911 at 8:59 AM. - [911] Forsyth County 911. - [Jeanne] Hi, yes, I need an ambulance and police to my home. My name is Jeanne Meyers. J-E-A-N-N-E. - [911] Okay, what's going on? - [Jeanne] We had people over last night, we were drinking. Most of us went to bed. One of 'em stayed on the balcony. She was drinking. And we just went outside, and she's laying face
down in the backyard. I'm guessing maybe she
fell off the balcony. - [911] Okay, is she breathing? - [Jeanne] I don't, I don't know. She's face down. - [911] Okay. How old is she? - [Jeanne] 41. Here, hold on. - [Jose] Hey, this is Jose Barrera. - [911] Hey, have y'all checked
to see if she's breathing? - [Jose] She's not moving one bit. She's not breathing. - [911] Okay. - [Jose] I just tried assess her. She's completely face down in the yard. - [911] Do you see any
blood or anything to where, from where she fell? - [Jose] I, I don't know
if I should move her over. I mean, she's completely face down. - [911] Okay, I mean, can you just check and see if she's breathing? If she's not breathing and
you, and you know she's gone, then just leave her where she's at. If she, okay. - [Jose] I'm completely not sure. - [911] Do you know if
she was suicidal at all? - [Jose] I have no clue. I've met her one other time. You know, like my girlfriend said, people were over last night. She was the last one I
saw before everybody, I mean, everybody was
typically put off to bed. She was the last one in the kitchen. She was just either
waiting around for a ride or waiting until the morning. - [911] Okay. How far is the, where
she would've fell from? How far is the deck from the ground? - [Jose] I would probably
say maybe 20 feet. - [911] Okay. - [Jose] You know, 20 feet from where your feet would be on the railing, the railing the itself is maybe
three and a half, four feet. - And Jose never performs or
attempts to perform CPR on her or any other life saving techniques, even though he is professionally trained. So, according to the
official crime scene report, police units were dispatched
at exactly 9:00 AM, and they arrived there at 9:07. The responders who came to
the scene include detectives from FSCO major crimes unit, a crime scene investigation unit, and an investigator from the Forsyth County coroner's office. So, sometime between 8:50 and 9:00 when everyone gets there, Jen, who was the one who
drank a ton that night, said that she was woken
up by all the chaos. And she says this is when she learned that Tamla was outside,
found on the ground, and wasn't moving. Now, something extremely crucial to point out here was the way that everyone reported seeing
Tamla's body on the ground versus the way that police
claim she was positioned when they arrived. And we actually hear for
ourselves in the 911 call that Jose says that she is face down without her head being
turned to either side. She is literally face down. And everyone else said that
when they saw Tamla outside that she was face down with
her arms right to her side, straight, and that her legs
were also just straight out. - [Jeanne] She was face down,
but like her arms were down like she just faceplanted is
the best way I can describe it. - [Officer] So her arms
were like by her side? - [Jeanne] Yeah, they were
by her side, palms up. - But allegedly this is not
the way her body is found when police get there. Instead her left arm was bent at the elbow and extended away from her body. And having an arm bent out
like this would indicate that she may have tried to brace herself for impact on the ground, meaning she could have tripped or fell. So, the official distance from the balcony to the ground was measured
at 14 feet and 10.5 inches. And again, everyone who
was there says the image of her lying face down with
her arms to her side is burned in their brains. - [Jeanne] I am telling you, Jen saw it, I saw it, Jose
saw it, my aunt saw it. I will never get that image out of my head that that woman's hands,
it was so just unnatural that they were down by her side. And I'm like, even if she fell,
why didn't she try to stop? Like, that's my first thought is, I guess I would put my hand,
like how do you land like that? And I'll never get that image out. I don't know who failed
in documenting what, whether the coroner, the
officers on the scene, I don't know if it's somebody
moved her, I don't know, but that is what I saw. - So, a lot of people have
questioned whether it's possible that the police actually moved her arm out to fit the narrative
that she tripped or fell because it would've been a
lot easier to close the case and just rule it an accident. And considering the racist
history of this county, a lot of people have pointed out that they would not be
surprised if that was the case. The upper deck was also not a place where people were hanging
out during the party. And the only time that they
were on the deck was once, and they were trying to
turn on the fire pit, but they gave up because they realized that there was no propane in the tank. The initial observation
of Tamla's body was that she had a few visible injuries. This included cuts to
her wrists, her legs, and the side of her face. After the initial observation
of the crime scene, Tamla was brought to the medical
examiners for an autopsy. And while the investigators
were in the backyard, Jeanne, Jose, Madeline, and
Jen were all brought inside for further questioning. Jeanne was also asked if she could call back
the rest of the people who were at the party so that they could interview them as well. And it's really important
to note that everyone who was still there were
left in a room together, unsupervised, able to talk to each other while they waited for questioning. So, not long after the
police had first arrived at Jeanne's house and found Tamla, they ended up going over to
tell Lee what happened to her. And he was immediately
met with disrespect. When they first knocked on the door, he was going to the bathroom, so he asked his sons to answer the door, and they quickly came to him and said, "Dad, there's police here." So, he finished up and met
them at the front door. They asked him three
times if his name was Lee. And he kept asking, "What
does this pertain to?" And they kept asking him, "Are you Lee?" And every time they got
more aggressive and louder. The last time that he asked,
"What does this pertain to?" They got fed up and they told him, "Your wife, she's deceased," in a very cold and aggressive tone. He said that it was said
to him with no remorse, no sympathy, no care at all. - I finish using the
restroom, go downstairs, answer the door. And the cop says, "Is your name Lee?" And I said, "What's this pertaining to?" And he said, "Is your name Lee?" And I said, "I'm gonna ask you once again, "what is this pertaining to?" He said, "Is your name Lee?" And I said, "Actually, no, it's not. "It's Leander. "But once again, what
is this pertaining to?" And he said, "Well,
your wife is deceased." He said, "It's about your
wife, she's deceased." That was his exact words. "It's about your wife, she's deceased." And I said, "What?" I said, "No, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no." - And they wouldn't even let Lee go over to the house himself. They just told him what happened, which they came to a
conclusion about very quickly. They said that she tripped
and fell to her death. - I said, "Where's she at?" And I went to go get my
clothes and all this stuff. 'Cause I was thinking, this is horse shit. First, I was thinking she
got into a car accident or something like that. Somebody hit her or something like that. And they're like, "Oh
no, it was an accident." And this and that. And I just was... "Oh, you can't go. "You can't go. "You can't go over there. "Everything's been taken care of already. "No, we don't want you going over there." This and that. And so, I was sitting on
the front porch with them and they're like, "Well, it seems that
there was an accident. "Seems she tripped over
something and fell in the grass," and this and that. And I'm like, "My wife
tripping over something "and falling in the grass? "I've seen this girl drink
a half a bottle of tequila "and dance salsa in six inch heels. "That don't make no sense." - But ultimately no one
would know much more until the autopsy was performed. So, they really shouldn't
have been saying this to him with such certainty without
even having that information. So, the autopsy came back, and the medical examiner
found a lot of small cuts and lacerations, including a one inch
laceration to her right wrist, a quarter inch abrasion
to her left forearm, and a one eighth inch abrasion to the tip of her left index finger, as well as half inch
lacerations to her lower legs. And in addition to the
cuts found on her body, the medical examiner noted
small superficial abrasions to the right side of her
forehead, left upper eyelid, bridge of her nose, and chin. And all the abrasions
on her face were smaller than a half inch. Internally, they found a
three quarter inch laceration to the right ventricle of her heart. And there were no fractures
of the bones in her face and no damage to her
shoulders, abdomen, or back. And although the lacerations were small, it was reported that she
did sustain severe injuries to her head, her neck, and her torso. The toxicology report did find her blood alcohol concentration at 0.238, which is almost three
times the legal limit. And she was found with
trace amounts of THC, which does make sense
according to everyone's story, and also Xanax in her system. And I do wanna note
that Tamla was not known for taking Xanax. She was not prescribed Xanax, and no one in her family was either. And the interesting part about this is it wasn't yet
metabolized in her liver, which means she had just
recently consumed it. After the analysis, Tamla's
official cause of death was due to multiple blunt force
injuries consistent with a fall, and her manner of death
was ruled an accident. The medical examiner's
report was made public on February 6th, 2019, and stated that there was
no evidence of injuries that would indicate foul play. Also another huge piece of information to note here is there were no
photos taken of Tamla's body during her autopsy, which
is incredibly strange because it's required. For some reason, it just was not done. And also the crime scene was
incredibly poorly documented. That does make you think
maybe there's a possibility that the police wanted to
close this case very quickly and not, you know, have a lot of room for people to ask questions. So, the police's first theory before the whole falling
off the balcony theory really began was that she
tripped and fell on ground level in the backyard. In Jeanne's backyard, there was a small metal barrier
separating some of the rocks from the grass. I'm sure a lot of you guys have
that in your yards as well. And it was first thought that maybe Tamla had tripped over this and that caused the fatal fall, which seems pretty dramatic and unusual. And logistically speaking
that would not make any sense with her injuries, but it also wouldn't make sense that she fell off the balcony either because you'd think her injuries
would be much more severe if she had actually fallen
face first from a balcony. I mean, the first thing
you would think of, right, is that she would have some
type of fracture in her face or in her skull or that
her nose would be broken. But none of that happened. Even her teeth were in
completely fine condition. It doesn't really line up with someone who had fallen off a balcony. But the autopsy was suitable for police, and they decided to close the
case on February 20th, 2019. And as if this family had not
been through enough trauma and hadn't been treated badly
enough from the beginning, when Lee actually went to the
funeral home to view Tamla, he found that she had been
basically put in blackface. She had been painted a much darker color than her actual complexion. - This is the thing is that a lot of people don't know
the extent of the injuries, but I know them because, and this is gonna shock some people, but when I went into the funeral home, I probably scared the shit outta everybody because I yelled "What the
fuck?" as loud as I could. I walked in and I saw my wife
look like she had shoe polish on her face, black shoe
polish all over her face. And I flipped out, and I
was like, nope, nope, nope, and I walked out. And I told them, "Take
that off of my wife. "Take all that." "Well, sir, well, I'm sorry, "but we had to cover up the
bruising," and this and that. And I don't, cover up the bruising. You don't cover up the bruising
with black shoe polish. My wife is my color, you know? But yet her skin was this color. That is like blackface. - He was super pissed, and he had left his sons outside
so he could view her first. But when he walked outside, his sons could tell that
something had really upset him. - So, I was really pissed, and
I was gonna close the casket and just leave it a closed casket. This was for the viewing,
not for the funeral, but for the viewing. And so, my sons came out to me
and said, "Dad, what's wrong? "Dad, what's wrong? "Dad, what's wrong?" And I said, "You can't go in there. "You can't, you can't see that. "That's not, that's not your mom. "That's not the way your mom looks." They're like, "Dad, I don't care. "I wanna see, I wanna see." I said, "No." I said, "This is grown man decisions. "I don't wanna see." I'm like, "You're making
a grown man decision. "You're gonna have to deal with it." And he's like, "I don't give a fuck, Dad. "I wanna see." And that was my oldest at the
time because he was pissed. And so I said, "You know what? "Okay, you wanna make grown man decisions? "Come on, let's go." So, I went in with my oldest boy, and he stood next to me and
we both just stood there and looked at her and
neither one of us shed a tear because it didn't look nothing like her. - Wow. Didn't even look like her. - It didn't look like her. - So, this story has a lot of, like I said in the beginning,
just sketchy details. And I've already gone
through some of those, but let's continue here. So, like I said, Jeanne's
security system, you know, gives her an alert every
time the doors are opened or closed. It was mentioned that the back
door was opened at 1:49 AM and then closed a minute later at 1:50, which made sense with Tamla
saying she was gonna go back out and have one more cigarette before bed. Then at 1:57, the back door opens again, which is kind of consistent with the time that it would take someone to,
you know, smoke a cigarette. But the door never shuts after that. It was also mentioned
in the 911 call by Jose that Jeanne had security
cameras in her backyard. And she did, but they
were all dead at the time. Jeanne said that she got the cameras when she and her ex-husband first divorced because she was afraid of him and wanted them for her safety. But after things cooled
off with him over time, they died and she
couldn't find the charger and never bothered to get a new one. - [Officer] Well, let me ask you about, kind of switch gears a
little bit, your cameras, which I know this has been a- - [Jeanne] They're
rechargeable Arlo cameras. They're not ones with batteries. I had gotten 'em when I was
going through my divorce because my ex-husband
would come in the house when I wasn't there. We were on good terms. And since things were
fine with my ex and I, I really wasn't concerned. - Which is really unfortunate because that footage would
really clear up a lot obviously. Another really sketchy bit
of this is how Jose went about assessing the
situation that morning. In some parts of his interview, he talks about going outside
right away to see Tamla. Later he says that he went
out the door to the balcony, the one that she would've fallen off. And he says that before
he actually got the chance to look over the balcony
and see Tamla for himself, which keep in mind, he already knew that she was on the ground because Madeline had told him, he ends up seeing a cigarette
and a lighter on the ground of the balcony, and he takes the time
to stop and pick it up and set it on the fire pit. He told investigators that he has OCD, and that they were in his way, and he's just the type of person to stop and do things like that. Just pick things up and tidy everything. But he says that he
wouldn't have done that if he had known what he was about to see, which doesn't really make sense because Madeline told him
what he was about to see. - [Jose] So, when I
initially went out there to see what was going on, there was a loose cigarette
and a lighter laying on the back deck. And I think just as OCD
as I am, I walked out and it was just kind of in my path from, you know, the door to the
railing where I looked out. I mean, I walked up,
set it on the fire pit, and just kept walking. - [Officer] Okay, so you actually did that before you saw Tamla or anything? - [Jose] Oh yeah. I wouldn't have moved anything if I knew what I was going to walk up on. - [Officer] Okay. - And this is odd because if the cigarette and lighter are upstairs on the balcony, that doesn't line up with the
downstairs door being opened that night. How else would Tamla have
gotten out of the house? I mean, this security system alerts you for every door that's opened. So, why was the cigarette
and lighter upstairs? Unless it was smoked earlier that night, but it almost seemed like
it was kind of being set up that way to make sense of
her falling off the balcony from the top. It just wouldn't make sense for
those things to be up there, especially since we know
that Tamla went outside from the downstairs back door. So the next confusing, sketchy thing that happened was Jeanne actually
bought the investigators, Tyler Sexton and Mike Christian,
Dunkin Donuts gift cards, which just seems weird to me. - [Officer] Get outta my head. - [Jeanne] Look, and I just
went and got y'all gift cards. - [Madeline] I told them
I just made 'em cookies. But then I was told I shouldn't because then it could look
bad if I give you something before the case is closed. - [Jeanne] And it's
very, it's stereotypical 'cause I figure all cops
love Dunkin Donuts, right? - [Officer] You may have something. - Someone just died at
your party at your house and you think it's cool
to make jokes like this and you have time to go get
Dunkin Donuts gift cards? It's just weird. Then we also hear Madeline
tell the investigators that she made them cookies. So, many people feel like
the investigators were bribed into not investigating further, not pushing further for the truth. So, just seconds after Jeanne gives them these
Dunkin Donuts gift cards, she asks them if they need her or if she can just go upstairs and start getting ready
for "this funeral." - [Jeanne] Do you need me or can I go upstairs and
get ready for this funeral? - [Officer] Go do your thing. - This is a friend of yours
who just died in your home. It's just her tone of voice and her choice of words that
have really bothered people. She doesn't say "my friend's
funeral" or even "her funeral." It's "this funeral." I don't know. Just, it bothers me. What do you guys think? So these interviews also were
not conducted right away. They did some the day of, they did the rest of the
interviewing five days later. And you'd think at that
point they would do it at the police station, but no, they chose to
do it at Jeanne's house for whatever reason. The first round of interviews
happened on November 9th, and they continued until November 20th. So, that's a lot of time
for everyone at the party to communicate with each other and kinda line up their stories. And many people have been
very disturbed by that. Many people believe
that if this was a party with all black women and there
was a white woman who died, that things would've been
handled very differently from the start. I mean, guilty or not, everyone at that party
should have been brought into the police station
to be questioned properly. So, let's talk a little
bit more about the Xanax and the autopsy report. Obviously the Xanax found in her system is a pretty bizarre finding considering she doesn't take this, it's not something she's
ever known for taking, and it was consumed very shortly before whatever happened to her happened. So, that brings Bridget Fuller, the one who was hanging out
with Tamla the most that night into question. So, she left early because
she has a lot of anxiety, and she is prescribed
Xanax for that anxiety. And she actually wears it around her neck. I don't know exactly what
this necklace looks like. I haven't been able to
find a picture of it, but I'm assuming it's
some type of like vial. I don't know if she has
that many pills in there, like a full bottles worth or if it's just like a few just in case. I don't know. When everyone at the party
was asked about the Xanax and how Tamla would have
gotten it into her system, no one knows how this would have happened. The only person who had it
at the party was Bridget. Bridget and the other
people at the party say that they never gave any or
Bridget never gave any to Tamla as far as we know. Nobody saw her take anything
throughout the night, and everyone said her behavior
was completely normal. Even Lee said, when he spoke
to her, that she seemed fine. However, we do know that
she must have taken it later in the night and likely
had taken it or was given it after Lee had spoken to her. But reality is some of
the women had gotten Xanax from Bridget before and
after Tamla's death, including Jeanne who got Klonopin
from Bridget on occasion. When Stacy is asked by police if Bridget gave her anything
that morning, she says no, but is actually caught by the officer not telling the full truth. And rather than admit
to the truth, she says, "I'm not gonna say I didn't." - [Officer] Did Bridget give you anything the morning Tam died while
you were back at the house and then meet you later that
night to give you anything? - [Stacy] No, I don't recall. I do not recall at all. - [Officer] Okay, so
you'd be surprised to know that there was a text on your phone to her asking her to meet you to give you some more of her medicine 'cause it helped you that morning? - [Stacy] Okay, well maybe. I'm not gonna say I didn't. - [Officer] Okay. That's fine. You just don't, but you don't remember it? - [Stacy] No, I don't. - [Kendall] Bridget's
interview as a whole has definitely caught the
attention of those who question what happened to Tam. She constantly goes off topic and addresses things completely
unrelated to the case. - [Bridget] I'm kind of your mother hen whenever I'm at parties. And my very first priority is children. Granted there were no children this time, but the weekend before there was. I've been a nanny for nine years and not just with my own children. Other people's children
completely trust me. And so, I'm very adamant about
watching what's going on, you know, and it's like, "Stop
flipping your head around, "you're gonna knock your
head into the damn wall. "I'm not doing any ER things for you. "Stop being stupid." - [Officer] Right. - [Bridget] And I think that was one of the things Tam liked
so much about me is even though I had a couple drinks, I still kept my faculties about me. - Bridget also brings
up that she doesn't care about a lot of people, but she says the people
that she does care about, she takes good care of. - [Bridget] And I don't have
a big circle of friends. I'm very closed, I'm very protective. I have Jeanne, you know. I have a little closer of
a relationship with my boss to the point where he
understands my anxiety and issues and stuff. You know, I've had time with his kids. They come here, they play
while Daddy's working. I mean, overall, I don't see my downfall. I don't trust people though, you know? And it's more grown up
people that I don't trust. It's not so much children. - So, before the investigation was closed, Jose who at the time worked
at the police station actually got caught accessing
confidential information about the case. It turns out Jose was looking into what the police knew so far, specifically he was caught
looking into more information about a woman named Michelle Graves. And Michelle is Tamla's close friend. And she from the beginning
was very unsatisfied with the investigation and made 13 Facebook posts
detailing the whole event and included the names of
the witnesses from the party, questioning their stories and
the overall investigation. And her posts were viewed
more than 100,000 times. And that upset those
that Michelle questioned in her writing. Jeanne and the others
ended up suing Michelle for suffering irreparable
damage to their character and reputation. But Michelle states that
beyond this lawsuit, the group has threatened her
and had her unjustly arrested, which the reason for that is unknown. That's a very foggy part of this. So, Jose was fired for accessing
this information illegally. However, no legal action
was ever taken against him. And Jose is not the only
corrupt one on the force in this case. There's also Mike Christian. He had to be pulled off the case because he leaked confidential files, including photos and sensitive information to his girlfriends. And this was only discovered because these women decided
that was wrong and reported him. And if that's not enough
to make him look bad, one of these women who
he met through a case that he was working said that
he groomed her for over a year before she agreed to go out with him. So, an internal investigation
was opened against him, but at that point he
resigned from the force probably because he knew he
was screwed at that point. It is also rumored that
both investigators, Mike and Tyler, are racist and have treated several
people of color unjustly. And there's this photo as well, which really speaks for itself. So in 2020, there was that
incredible fight for justice for the men and women of
color who have been murdered in this country by police or have been treated unjustly
by our justice system. And millions of people
fought for Tamla's case to be reopened. And celebrities like Kim
Kardashian and 50 Cent also rallied for Tamla in hopes that she would
have a proper investigation. So in June of 2020, the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation reopened her case after receiving a letter from the Forsyth County saying
they are ready to assist in any manner. But the GBI has said that they didn't find
any further information to indicate that there
was any foul play involved in Tamla's case. Ralph Fernandez, who is the
Horsford family attorney, sent a letter to Lee saying that he and his office reviewed the case and said that there is
a strong possibility that this was a homicide. Also their attorney has stated that they found conflicting
witness statements, a tampered crime scene,
mishandled evidence, and an unheard absence of autopsy photos. But unfortunately these findings
have not led to any change in the final outcome. And to this day Tamla's death is still being ruled an accident. I wish I had more
information at this point. You'd think with how much time has passed, there would be more, but there's not. I really wanna know what you
guys think about this case. I know there are gonna be mixed opinions and some crazy comments on this one, but I felt like it was really important to talk about this case and just how, even if it
really was an accident, how messy, how unfair the
entire case was handled from the beginning. And just the overall strange way that this case was handled
from the beginning. Please let me know your
thoughts on this one, guys. I definitely wanna know
what you're thinking after hearing all of this. I feel so sorry for Lee
and for all their children that they have to miss
out on life with Tamla when she was such an incredible mother. You know, it's so sad
thinking of Lee having to live his life without her, thinking of all the friends that Tamla had that no longer have her in
their life to cheer them up, to celebrate milestones with them. It's just incredibly
heartbreaking to think about. And to this day, to me, her
death just doesn't make sense. I just don't understand how
she would've fallen 14 feet from that balcony and not
had way more severe injuries. And if she fell at ground level, the injuries that she did
have don't make any sense. And I just can't wrap
my mind around it fully. I feel like a further
investigation should have absolutely been done. And I hope that one day
the case is reopened and given a second look
because Tamla deserves that, her family deserves that. That is all I have for you guys today. I know that was a very tough one. Thank you to everyone who
stuck through to the end. And like I said, I really
wanna hear your thoughts, so leave them down below. But that's it for me this time, guys. I will see you next
week with another video. Until then, please stay safe out there, and I will see you next time. (gentle music)
