FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — For the first time since a Forsyth County mother died under suspicious circumstances at a house party, we’re hearing from her family.
Tamla Horsford died after attending an adults-only slumber party at a north Forsyth County home in Nov. 2018.
A sheriff’s office investigation concluded she was drunk and had drugs in her system and that she accidentally fell off a deck to her death.
Over the summer, Forsyth County Sheriff Ron Freeman asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to reopen the case amid mounting pressure from the family and others who don’t believe what investigators concluded.
Monday, a GBI spokeswoman told Petchenik there were no new updates to report in the ongoing investigation.
“I just want the truth to come out,” Tamla’s husband, Lee Horsford, told Channel 2′s Mike Petchenik in an exclusive interview. “We just want to know what happened. And if it was an accident, just make it make sense.”
Horsford said his wife’s death has left a huge void in his family.
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“I can definitely say she was one of the classiest women that I’ve ever met in my life,” he said. “She had a heart of gold. She I’ve never met anybody that you know, like that in my entire life.”
Horsford said his wife would have never shown up to a party with people she didn’t know well and gotten so drunk that she would have fallen.
“I’m not saying it wasn’t an accident, but I am saying it was a coverup,” Horsford told Petchenik. “I’m saying they made it look like something else.”
The family believes Horsford’s body sustained injuries after she died.
“It is physically impossible for a body to land like that, from falling off of the deck,” said Horsford. “Because with all the marks that she had on her, you don’t get that from falling into the grass. You don’t get linear scratches on your arm from falling into the grass, you don’t get gashes in your shins from falling into the grass. You don’t get contusions on your head.”
Horsford’s father, Kurtland St. Jour, told Petchenik his daughter’s death has “crushed” the family emotionally.
“I just want to make them pay for what they did. Because they’ve disrupted so much,” he said of anyone who might have played a role in his daughter’s death.
Horsford and St. Jour told Petchenik they were concerned after seeing allegations the former lead investigator on the case, Corporal Mike Christian, had sent pictures of Tamla’s dead body to women with whom he was having affairs.
“It doesn’t surprise me,” Horsford said.
RELATED STORIES:
Feb. 20, 2019: ‘She’s not moving:’ 911 calls detail morning mother of 5 was found dead at party
Feb. 21, 2019: Mother of 5′s death ruled accidental; investigation closed
June 10, 2020: Petition demands police reopen investigation into death of Forsyth County mother
June 12, 2020: GBI to reopen investigation into 2018 death of Tamla Horsford
June 8, 2020: Family attorney says his own investigation shows Forsyth Co. mother of 5 may have been killed
Jan. 8, 2021: Forsyth investigator resigns after claims he shared crime scene photos, private info with women he had affairs with
Jan. 15, 2021: GBI wants to speak with women who claim to have seen evidence tied to death of young mom
Feb. 4, 2021: Former deputy sent confidential info to two women about multiple cases, reports show
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