Makayla LaShea Harrison, 26, was found dead at her home on South French Broad Avenue in Asheville, North Carolina, on November 9, 2024. Officers responding to a welfare check discovered a gunshot wound identified as the cause of death. Authorities named her boyfriend, 34-year-old Darren Lamont Clayton, as the primary suspect; Clayton had been arrested on October 28 on charges including assault on a female and possession of a stolen firearm and was released shortly before Harrison’s death. A search for Clayton began after the discovery; he was arrested on November 13 in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and charged with first-degree murder.

Harrison was a 2017 graduate of Asheville High School, where she participated in dance, theater, and ROTC. She worked with young children as a kindergarten teacher’s assistant at Vance Elementary School and as an after-school teacher’s assistant at the Chosen POD at the Arthur Edington Education and Career Center. Her death prompted community grief and renewed attention to domestic violence resources.

If anyone knew Makayla or has information about her death, please come forward to the Asheville Police.