Tamla Horsford was a 40 year old vivacious woman with an amazing husband and 6 beautiful children. They moved to Forsyth County, Georgia for her husband’s career. She was very active and involved with her children’s school and sports they participated in. She and Leander, her husband, would attend games and such cheering on their boys with pride! In the summer/fall of 2018, Tamla began socializing with some of the other parents within their sports circle. She was making new friends and getting that “mom break” we all desperately need sometimes! But on a seemingly innocent night of fun, drinking, celebrating a birthday and watching football, things turned tragic.

Tam was invited to the home of Jeanne Meyers, located at 4450 Woodlet Court, Cumming, GA, on the night of November 3, 2018.

Jeanne was celebrating her birthday and wanted to watch the LSU game. It was supposed to be a slumber party for just the ladies. Show up, eat, drink, watch football, have fun, put on your pajamas and spend the night! Two men, however, decided they would stay in the basement watching football out of the ladies’ way. The night seemed to go just fine until a gruesome discovery was made the following morning…Tam was deceased in the backyard.

Witness/People at the party

• Jeanne Meyers – Homeowner
• Jose Barrera – Boyfriend of Jeanne
• Nicole Lawson
• Marcy Hardin
• Bridget Fuller
• Michael Pallerino
• Jennifer Morrell
• Sarah Cocerham
• Paula Seals
• Thomas Smith
• Stacy Smith
• Madeline Lombardi – Jeanne’s aunt who lives at the house.

Jeanne Meyers called 911 at 8:59 on the morning of November 4, 2018. She then passed the phone to her boyfriend, Jose Barrera. At the time, Jose worked for Forsyth County as a probation officer. Listen to what each of them said during the call and feel free to listen 2-3 times. Listen to their tone. Listen to their demeanor. Let’s break it down real quick and see what we get.

Jeanne was very calm, collective and had no panic in her voice. She immediately went into alibi mode, giving an account of the night before. She then went straight into giving a “story” of what happened to Tam. She makes the comment that she is “stiff”. She quickly hands the phone off to Jose. He introduced himself and sounded very authoritative. He answered that she’s not moving and not breathing, completely face down in the yard and stiff. He made a statement pointing to the fact that he hasn’t turned her over. How did he know she wasn’t breathing? He’s then asked to actually check to see if she is breathing or not. The dispatcher knew he hadn’t checked for breathing or any signs of life. He gives the same story about last night that Jeanne gave. He mentioned he was the last to see her awake. He’s incredibly calm and collected as well during the call. He took a moment to mention that his girlfriend has cameras on the back deck that would’ve caught the incident. You will see later on that he knew, way beforehand, that those cameras weren’t working/recording! He also gave two scenarios of what happened. He said she either fell from the deck or was already ‘down here’ and fell. When asked if everyone that attended the party was still present, he said that 4 people had left already and that the alarm system (it’s separate from the cameras) would show the doors open/close times. The call ended as Deputy Miller is the fist to arrive on the scene.

The bulk of the “story” is that some of the ladies left that night and the few that stayed pretty much went to bed at the same time. Tam and Bridget were the last ones up on the main level. Bridget’s boyfriend was picking her up though. He arrived and she left at 1:47 am. Tam was supposedly having one cigarette and going to bed. She opened the back door at 1:49, the door closed at 1:50 and opened again at 1:57 but remained open. That’s it. Makes no sense does it? The “meat” of the evening will come from the individual interviews that I will address in the next post. Some of them match certain times and such and some don’t. After reading all their interviews and listening to them, if you choose to do so, it will make much more sense.

Let’s view the crime scene, evidence and autopsy. Here is the backyard of 4450 Woodlet Court. The railing that Mike Christian is leaning on is the main floor of the home and the deck that Tam would come out onto to smoke during the party. The ground level door is considered the basement door by Jeanne’s security system.

From the top rail to the ground is 14 feet 10 1/2 inches. From the deck to the top rail is 3 feet 1 inch. The rail width is 5 inches. Tam, according to the witnesses, was face down in the grass, legs straight out and arms by her side with her palms facing up. That is an extremely awkward position! Face down. Legs straight. Both arms at her side and palms facing up. Who falls down like that? Could she have been placed like that? Crime scene photos also cause an issue because her left arm is not in the position others claimed. The propane tank, in the photo above, on the deck appeared to have had the buildup of dirt removed per FCSO report.

The tequila bottle Tam brought had 1/8 left and Tam is the only one that drank from it, according to the attendees. At 11:05 law enforcement checked for post mortem changes. Rigor and lividity were both present. Her body was cold to the touch. LE left the scene at 11:42 am. The evidence markers, EM, were placed at the scene. EM 1 and 2 were placed at divots in the ground. EM 3 was placed at the location of the victim’s head. EM 4 was placed at an unknown substance in the grass.

The autopsy was performed on November 6, 2018 at 1300 hrs.

There were no breaks or fractures to the face. There were blunt force injuries to the head and neck. Abrasions were to the right side of her forehead, left upper eyelid, bridge of her nose, right temple and chin. There was bleeding at the right temple/scalp area, subarachnoid hemorrhage(bleeding into the space between the brain and thin tissues covering it), subdural hemorrhage (blood leaking and collecting in the space between the brain’s surface and its outermost covering), partial atlanto-occupital dislocation (the skull has partially separated from the top vertebra in the neck), and a non-displaced linear fracture of the 2nd cervical vertebra (a crack in the neck bone).

A 3/4 inch laceration of the right ventricle of the heart, right wrist dislocation, 1 inch laceration and protrusion of the right wrist, abrasions to the left forearm, tip of left index finger, right lower leg and left lower leg were noted.

THC, alcohol (.238) and Xanax were detected and noted in her toxicology report. The cause of death was listed as multiple blunt force injuries. The manner of death was listed as an accident from a fall. Xanax works quickly with effects taking place within 30-60 minutes and peak concentration at 1-2 hours. Based on that and the amount of alcohol in Tam’s system, she had to have been given Xanax no later than 1 am, in my opinion.

What do you think so far? Does this resemble a fall from the deck? If we believe she was the only one left awake at the party, do we also believe she climbed up that railing and went over the side? If we go with the first story given, do we think she was on the ground level and tripped over that 1 inch metal border at the wood chips and just face planted the ground?

What do you think of the position of her body? If everyone says her hands were straight back by her side with palms facing up, how did her left arm end up in the position it was photographed in? How about the injuries to her head? Is it possible she was assaulted and then dragged to the spot she found?

The next post will go through the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office interviews and findings.