Mother who chased son's killers not resting until final suspect caught

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A mother who chased her son's killer says she's now fighting for justice.

T.J. Riley got in her car to get the tag number of the getaway car after Georgia State student Jeremy Riley was killed in March in DeKalb County.

Channel 2's Matt Johnson has stayed in touch with T.J. Riley since her son's death, and she told him she wanted to speak out now because she said the job isn't done.

A third person involved remains on the run, and Riley says it makes her furious.

Jeremy Riley, 24, will always be a hero to his mother for the way she says he protected his family in the home invasion that killed him.

"Had he not been there, they could have possibly killed myself and my other kids," T.J. Riley said.

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It was in March when DeKalb police say three people broke into Riley's condo on Abbeywood Drive to rob her.

She said her whole family was inside when the masked men burst inside and Jeremy Riley shielded his three siblings.

"They said, ‘Lay down.' He laid down. They slaughtered him like a pig in my face."

T.J. Riley said she was terrified but didn't want the killers to get away, so she got in her car and chased them.

"They stopped as soon as they saw me behind them, before they even got 100% on the highway, and just started shooting," Riley said.

She wrecked her car but not before getting a partial tag number that helped lead to the arrest of Jeremy Brown and Kadar Whitfield.

"One thing the detective said was, 'I don't know if it was the dumbest thing you did or the smartest thing you did, but you reacted, and because of your reaction, we were able to get these guys,'" Riley told Johnson.

But Riley said it angers her that the third person involved hasn't been caught.

"We weren't bothering anybody. We weren't doing anything wrong," Riley said.

She is speaking out for the first time because she said her pursuit of justice hasn't stopped.

"I will not, and I won't stop until I do get full justice for my family, for my son," Riley said.

As for a motive, Riley told Johnson that someone knew there was money in her home that she had saved up to buy a car for the car business she and her son were about to start together.

The two people arrested are set to appear in court again in December.

Cox Media Group