April 26, 2009: Heather Strube, a 25-year-old florist and mother going through a divorce in Snellville, Georgia – a busy suburb east of Atlanta – left to pick up her toddler son from her estranged husband, Steven.
According to The Atlanta Journal Constitution, it was routine for Heather and Steven, with whom she shared custody of their son, Carson, to meet at a local Target parking lot.
Once Carson was with Heather, Steven drove away. As Heather buckled Carson into his car seat, the unthinkable happened. Witnesses said a person wearing a “Sonny and Cher” style man’s wig and fake mustache walked up to Heather and shot her point blank in the head.
This week, Cox Media Group’s Nicole Bennett had the opportunity to speak with Sandra Parrish, a reporter for 95.5 WSB in Atlanta, about her extensive coverage of Heather Strube’s case.
>> Listen to the full episode below.
Beyond Criminal Headlines is a podcast in which Cox Media Group’s Nicole Bennett sits down with esteemed journalists and true crime experts who’ve covered some of the most notorious cases in American history. Find the latest ‘Beyond Criminal Headlines’ content on any podcast provider or listen on demand here.
Heather’s shooter, caught on mall surveillance tape, walked away from the scene. Initially, police looked at Steven Strube as a suspect but later verified that he was with a girlfriend at the time of Heather’s murder.
Authorities finally received a break in the case from a truck driver who had reportedly stayed in a hotel behind the Target where Heather’s shooting occurred. A day before the murder, the trucker’s attention was caught by an individual in a white pickup truck, with distinctive detailing, who was “taking pictures of the shopping center [and] looking at it through binoculars,” Oxygen’s Joe Dziemianowicz writes.
Eventually, that witness identified the white truck as one belonging to Heather’s mother-in-law, Joanna Hayes.
“When investigators dug deeper into Hayes’ background,” Dziemianowicz writes, “they learned that she was determined to remain a daily part of [her grandson] Carson’s life.
“Her son’s divorce could jeopardize that arrangement.”
In May 2009, police showed Steven Strube the tape of the shooting suspect seen at the Target parking lot. According to Dziemianowicz, Steven was “visibly shaken when he recognized the person in the video and identified the individual as his own mother.”
Joanna Hayes was ultimately convicted of gunning down her daughter-in-law. According to The AJC, police said Hayes dressed as a man and donned the disguise to “avoid being recognized by onlookers as well as her own grandson.”
On May 18, 2011, Hayes was sentenced to serve a life sentence. A jury in Gwinnett County returned the guilty verdict on charges of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
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