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Wrong Twin Suspected After Teacher Fatally Shot in Her Car and Clues First Point To Him
When Genai Coleman was fatally shot in a mall parking lot just outside of Atlanta, DNA evidence seemed to point to one man — but then came a shocking twist.
On July 18, 2008 at around 9 p.m., police responded to a 911 call reporting gunfire at a mall parking lot in Gwinnett County, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta.
First responders found the victim, later identified as 40-year-old Genai Coleman, on the ground with a gunshot wound to her chest. She was rushed to the hospital but didn’t survive. Her car was not at the scene.
A bus driver told officials that she observed Coleman seated in a gold car in the parking lot, according to Damien Cruz, a former detective with the Gwinnett County Police Department.
“[The gunman] opened the door, fired a single shot, and pulled the victim out of the car,” Cruz said in the “Murder at the Mall” episode of The Real Murders of Atlanta, airing Saturdays at 9/8c p.m. on Oxygen.
The bus driver described the shooter as a Black male about 6 feet tall, between 40 and 50 years of age, wearing a green and white top.
Who was Genai Coleman?
Authorities learned that Coleman was a school teacher. “She was a single mom and on her own, having adopted three daughters out of foster care,” said Lisa Jones, a former Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney and later Chief ADA for Gwinnett County.
Coleman was also a reservist from the Navy attached to Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Georgia, who’d completed her military training to be certified as an MP, a military police officer.
“She served her country and she loved her lord," Jones told The Real Murders of Atlanta. “She was an absolute innocent victim.”
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Coleman’s sister said that the victim had gone to the mall to pick up one of her daughters. She shared the license plate for Coleman's gold Dodge Stratus.
Genai Coleman’s car located
Finding Coleman’s car became a top priority. “That vehicle is a rolling treasure chest for physical evidence,” said Edward Restrepo, who was a detective at the Gwinnett County Police Department at the time of the murder.
About 12 hours after the shooting, the vehicle was found 40 miles away. It was processed for fingerprints and DNA evidence, said Brittany Barrington, crime scene supervisor for the Gwinnett County Police Department.
A cigarette butt was collected from inside the car. Detectives learned that Coleman was not a smoker and did not allow anyone to smoke in her car.
Detectives sent the DNA evidence out for comparison to local and federal databases. They knew that results would take weeks or months to come back.
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Genai Coleman’s close circle
Investigators learned that the last person to see Coleman could have been her daughter Felicia’s estranged ex-boyfriend.
Despite his problematic relationship with Felicia, the ex held Coleman in high regard. “He was very adamant that he had absolutely nothing to do with it,” said Cruz.
Felicia's former boyfriend told police he was with family members at the time of the shooting. His alibi checked out and he was ruled out.
Surveillance footage leads to clues
Police focused on surveillance footage from a gas station convenience store near the crime scene.
Investigators spotted a man on his phone in the store who matched the description of the alleged shooter.
“He purchased alcohol on two occasions, and then he purchased a pack of cigarettes at the store,” said Cruz. “He ordered Bronson Light Longs.”
The investigator compared photos of Bronson Light Longs to the cigarette butt found in Coleman’s car. “It was exactly the same,” he said. “At that point, I’m realizing this is my guy.”
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Police showed the video to Coleman’s family members and to area business owners in hopes of making an identification. Detectives struck out, so they turned to the media. Officials hit another dead end.
Four weeks after the shooting, detectives were running out of leads. In the meantime, Coleman’s loved ones grappled with grief and the need for justice.
DNA leads to breakthrough
On August 6, 2009, detectives learned that the crime lab got a hit on the DNA on the cigarette butt.
The DNA was a match for Donald Eugene Smith, who previously had “been charged with armed robbery,” said Jones. “It made him a definite suspect.”
Investigators determined that Donald had recently worked at Legal Sea Foods. Employees there identified the man in the video as Donald. A phone number that Donald had listed on his job application matched the number of a phone that was active near the crime scene the night of the murder.
Police took Donald into custody on February 3, 2010. He denied having anything to do with the crime, despite DNA evidence. When detectives shared the gas station video with Donald, he immediately said that he wasn’t the man caught on tape.
“That is definitely not me,” Donald said in the recorded interview. “I don’t have a shirt like that... that’s not me.”
Donald’s insistence gave detectives second thoughts. “Maybe they’ve got an innocent man, or maybe there’s just an innocent explanation why that cigarette butt was in the car,” said Atlanta TV journalist Mark Hayes.
Suspect has a twin brother
Donald then revealed that he has an identical twin brother, Ronald Smith. At this point, Donald declined to talk about his brother with authorities.
Cruz and other investigators talked to Donald’s parents. They immediately identified the person in the gas station video as being their son, Ronald.
“We learned with identical twins, DNA is the same,” said Jones. “However, they do not have the same fingerprints.”
Police arrested Ronald on February 6, 2010. The twins’ fingerprints were sent to the crime lab for analysis.
During a lengthy interview, police confronted Ronald with the mountain of evidence against him. But he didn’t crack.
“I’m just not prepared to give any kind of statement,” Ronald said in the taped interview.
In an effort to build a rapport with the suspect, Restrepo allowed Ronald to have a cigarette break. He observed that he smoked Bronson Light Longs, the same brand as the butt in the car.
Detectives also learned that Ronald’s fingerprints were a match for the prints lifted from the outside of Coleman’s car, and Donald’s were not. Charges that had been filed against Donald related to the case were dropped.
Who killed Genai Coleman?
Cruz handed a photo of Coleman to Ronald and pushed him to tell him what happened. After detectives left the room, Ronald was recorded saying, “I’m sorry, baby girl, I’m sorry.” When detectives returned, Ronald confessed to the crime.
According to investigators, Ronald said that he had been drinking the night of the shooting. He needed a vehicle and decided to carjack Coleman. When he pulled the gun on her, she pleaded for her life.
“He said he didn't mean to shoot her,” said Cruz, and told police that the gun went off due to a “hair trigger," which makes a weapon easy to fire with light pressure.
Investigators didn’t buy that. A witness had said the shooter cursed at Coleman, calling her a “motherf----r.”
Ronald was charged with felony murder and pleaded not guilty. On October 6, 2012, he was convicted of murder, carjacking and possession of a firearm. He was sentenced to life plus 25 years in prison, reported the Gwinnett Daily Post.
Coleman’s family still grieves the loss. “My mom was sitting there minding her own business,” said her daughter Lakashe Coleman. “The hurt will always be there.”
To find out more about the case, watch the “Murder at the Mall” episode of The Real Murders of Atlanta, airing Saturdays at 9/8c p.m. on Oxygen.
Originally published Sep 14, 2024.
