Hanaleigh Michelle Suttles, an eight-year-old white female known to her loved ones as "Hana," was a spirited and athletic child with a love for life. Her father, Brian Suttles, remembers her as a precious and humble girl with compassion for others. Hana’s passions were varied and joyful; she loved to sing, dance, ride horses, play with makeup, and shop for clothes with the discerning eye of someone much older. In March 2011, just eight months before her death, Hana and her 17-year-old brother, Richard "Ricky" Suttles, lost their mother, Carrie Beth Suttles. Following this loss, they moved into the Greensboro, North Carolina, home of their maternal aunt, Mary Ann Holder, who became their guardian.
The morning of Sunday, November 20, 2011, shattered the peace of their Pleasant Garden community. In a tragic sequence of events, Mary Ann Holder, 36, embarked on a violent rampage. The catalyst appeared to be the bitter end of a three-year affair with a man named Randal Scott Lamb.
That morning, Holder first drove to the Guilford Technical Community College Aviation Center and shot Lamb in the shoulder and elbow as he arrived for work. He survived and called for help. From there, Holder’s violence turned toward the children in her care. At her home on Cocoa Drive, she shot Hana, her brother Ricky, her own 17-year-old son Robert "Dylan" Smith, and Dylan's 15-year-old girlfriend, Makayla Leigh Woods.
After shooting the four teenagers and Hana in the head, Holder picked up her younger son, 14-year-old Zachary "Zach" Lee Smith, under the pretense of taking him from a friend's house. She shot him in her vehicle. An hour after the initial shooting of Lamb, Guilford County Sheriff's deputies found Holder in her black Ford Explorer on Remora Road. Inside, they found her deceased from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, with Zach alive but critically injured in the backseat. Deputies then went to the Cocoa Drive home, where they discovered Dylan deceased at the scene. Hana, Ricky, and Makayla were found alive but with critical head wounds.
The Guilford County Sheriff's Office led the investigation into the horrific events. Sheriff B.J. Barnes confirmed that ballistic testing proved the gun found with Holder was the sole weapon used in all the shootings. Investigators found two notes Holder had left, in which she took responsibility for the shootings and apologized for the pain she had caused, though a clear motive remained elusive to law enforcement. The investigation also revealed a complex backstory involving threats of a lawsuit for alienation of affection against Holder by Lamb's wife. The day before the rampage, Holder had given Lamb a $10,000 check, believed to be a settlement.
In the days that followed, the tragedy deepened as the young victims succumbed to their injuries. Hana was rushed to Moses Cone Hospital, where she died from her injuries on Monday, November 21, 2011. Her cousin Zach died later that same day. Makayla Woods passed away on Wednesday. In an act of immense generosity amid unimaginable grief, Hana's father, Brian Suttles, chose to donate her organs. Hana’s heart, kidneys, and liver saved the lives of four other children, including a seven-year-old girl who had only days to live. Her brother Ricky, who also passed away, saved five more lives through organ donation.
The community was left in a state of shock and mourning. A funeral service was held for the children at Pleasant Garden Baptist Church, and Hana was buried in Lakeview Memorial Park in Greensboro. The case was a murder-suicide perpetrated by Mary Ann Holder, who was responsible for the deaths of five children before taking her own life. The investigation concluded with Holder as the sole perpetrator, and the case is considered closed. In the years since, Brian Suttles has shared his story of profound loss and finding a path forward through faith and music, becoming an advocate for organ donation and a source of inspiration for others navigating tragedy.
