In the early morning hours of September 9, 2024, a house on Cohassett Lane in Decatur, Georgia, exploded and was heavily engulfed in flames. Firefighters found the structure partially collapsed; once the scene was safe, the bodies of 35-year-old Derris Deshaun Woods and his 28-year-old girlfriend, Brittany Hall, were discovered inside. The couple had lived together in the home for more than a year.

The DeKalb County Medical Examiner determined both Woods and Hall had been shot to death before the fire was set, converting the incident into a double homicide investigation. Woods was remembered by family as funny, outgoing, the life of the party, and a devoted father to five children; his family had buried his brother about a year earlier after an unexpected death.

DeKalb County police identified 40-year-old Marques Holloway as a suspect. Holloway was apprehended in Meridian, Mississippi, on unrelated drug charges and is being held there pending extradition to Georgia. Investigators have suggested a possible drug-related motive, and some family members have expressed concern the suspect may not have acted alone.

Did anyone in the Decatur area hear, see, or know anything about activity around the Cohassett Lane home before the explosion?