Ahkeyra Phylann Raysor

Ahkeyra Phylann Raysor was a 22-year-old Black woman from Columbia, South Carolina, who had attended Allen University. A mother to two young children, she had another child on the way when her life was taken.

In the pre-dawn hours of December 22, 2022, police in Greenwood, South Carolina, responded to a call about shots fired at an apartment complex. Just after 1 a.m., officers arrived at the Burfield Apartments at 315 Cambridge Avenue East. Inside one of the apartments, they discovered Ahkeyra in a bedroom with a gunshot wound. The Greenwood County Coroner’s Office pronounced her dead at the scene.

The Greenwood Police Department launched an immediate investigation into the homicide. Detectives processed the scene for evidence and began interviewing witnesses to piece together the events that led to the fatal shooting. Authorities stated that they did not believe the incident was connected to another recent deadly shooting in the area.

The investigation quickly led to a suspect. Police arrested 24-year-old Wilson Justice Smith in connection with Ahkeyra's death and charged him with murder. A judge denied him bond, and he was held at the Greenwood County Detention Center. The following month, in January 2023, police made a second arrest in connection with the homicide.

The case against Wilson Justice Smith proceeded through the court system. He was tried before a Greenwood County jury, which found him guilty of murder. Following the conviction, a judge sentenced Smith to 40 years in prison.