Quintia Miller.
A 78-year-old North Carolina man has pleaded guilty to murder in a fatal case of mistaken identity.
On Monday in Davie County Superior Court, Harold Reid, Jr., pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the death of Quintia Miller, 26, on Oct. 3, 2022.
He also pleaded no contest to four unrelated sexual crimes including first-degree sex offense and two counts of indecent liberties with a child.
It was those sexual charges that led him to kill Miller, say authorities.
On Oct. 3, 2022, Reid was going to be tried for a first-degree sexual offense and indecent liberties with a child, the Davie County Sheriff’s Office said in a previous news release, theCharlotte Observerreports.
Miller had been waiting for the school bus with her 6-year-old son, Kamari, and was heading back to her family’s apartment when she encountered Reid, her family wrote in aGoFundMe.
Reid mistook Miller for Shavonne Barnes, the person he was looking for. Then he confronted her and fatally shot her, the sheriff’s office said. (Barnes has identified herself publicly and spoken with the media.)
Officers with the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force and the sheriff’s office happened to be at the complex that morning for an unrelated matter when they heard shots,Fox 8reports.
They immediately took Reid into custody.
Harold Reid Jr.
“I saw Quintia lying face down,” Barnes said at the time, Fox 8 reports. “Reid was laying on top of her. The attack should have never been her. The bullet was meant for me.”
Barnes told Fox 8 that Reid had molested her as a child.
“I knew from the point of his release, his goal was to kill me, and he made that very clear,” she told Fox 8.
“I also watched him lay on the ground, and his words to me were…‘I was coming for you,'” she said. “Not only did he violate me, but he’s also taken an innocent life because he’s a coward.”
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“It has taken a toll on everybody,” Miller’s mother, Sabrina Perry,WX11 12. “All the way down to my grandkids.”
In theGoFundMeto help with funeral expenses and caring for Kamari, Miller’s family wrote that “Quintia was one of the kindest people you could ever meet and was there for you if you needed a hug, a shoulder to lean on or an ear to listen.
“She never turned her back on anyone who needed help.
“We also want to ensure Kamari’s future well-being is secure.”
Reid was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole, Fox 8 reports.
source: people.com
