Trey Robinson was sitting in his automobile consuming baked fish and broccoli when his telephone rang.
Fresh from a morning run in Atlanta, he was parked outdoors a seafood restaurant after choosing up his lunch. He balanced the nice and cozy takeout container on his lap, the aroma of crispy whiting filling the air as he answered the decision.
It was a state investigator with information Robinson had waited half his life to hear: Deputies had been transferring in to arrest a man they consider killed his mom 16 years in the past in Douglas, Georgia.
Sandra Robinson was discovered stabbed to demise on March 17, 2010, inside a pay as you go cellphone retailer the place she labored as a supervisor. Her son was 17 on the time.
Now 32 – the identical age as his mom when she died – Robinson sat in shocked silence as he listened to the agent from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. His voice faltered as his eyes full of tears. The investigator informed him to take a second and he’d name again shortly.
His mom’s killing shattered Robinson’s life and shocked the city of 12,000 about three hours’ drive south of Atlanta. Almost in a single day, Robinson grew to become a teenage caretaker for his three youthful siblings as he navigated highschool and coped with grief.
It additionally formed his profession path. In 2016, after years of unanswered questions on his mom’s killing, he utilized to a police academy and received into legislation enforcement – first as a deputy in his residence county and now as an investigator on the medical expert’s workplace in the Atlanta suburb of DeKalb County.
“I wanted to investigate homicides and get answers for families. I did not want others to go through what I’ve been through,” he informed NCS. “That has always been my goal.”
For years, Robinson helped different households discover solutions whereas he looked for his personal. But the unresolved nature of his mom’s case nagged at him. He referred to as authorities always for updates and put up “Justice for Sandra Robinson” indicators and billboards in Douglas. In October 2024, he wrote to the GBI and urged its cold case unit to take one other take a look at his mom’s case file. Investigators agreed.
This month, his persistence lastly paid off.
A GBI particular agent referred to as Robinson from the scene of the arrest in Valdosta, Georgia, as deputies shouted instructions to the suspect in the background.
“I heard, ‘put your hands up! … 10-95,’ the Georgia code for someone is under arrest,’” Robinson mentioned. “A lot of times, the call happens after the fact. But he called me as the arrest was being made. And I instantly became emotional.”
The arrest got here 16 days earlier than the sixteenth anniversary of his mom’s demise, a second he described as “divine.”
The investigator informed him the suspect’s identify: Willie James, Jr.
Robinson mentioned he was not stunned.
Sitting in his automobile, his meals forgotten, he referred to as his sister and two brothers with the information. Nearly twenty years after their mom’s killing, justice lastly felt inside attain.
Sandra Robinson was 15 when Trey was born.
In some ways, they grew up collectively. His dad wasn’t in the image, and the bond he shared along with his mom felt extra like siblings determining life side-by-side, Robinson mentioned.
“I was always attached to my mom. We had more of a brother-and-sister type relationship,” he mentioned. “She always let me know that whatever was going on in my life, I could talk to her. And when she had things going on in her own life — little issues with her boyfriend — I would always encourage her.”
His favourite recollections of her revolve round meals and household gatherings.
In Douglas, family members recurrently packed their residence for Thanksgiving, the place Sandra Robinson’s selfmade stuffing was a huge hit.
The day she was killed, his mom wasn’t supposed to be at work, he mentioned. She’d deliberate to take her kids for dinner at her mom’s home. She’d ready baked hen, rice, candy peas and rolls. But Sandra Robinson’s boss referred to as and requested her to come in for an further shift on the cellphone retailer.
After college, Trey Robinson went along with his grandmother to Bible examine as they waited for his mom to get off work, he mentioned.
But she by no means got here residence. While Robinson was on the pulpit singing hymns, his uncle obtained a name and rushed out of the church, he mentioned. Seconds later, he got here again in, whispered one thing in his grandmother’s ear and the 2 dashed out, leaving Robinson behind.
Not lengthy after, the church’s pianist stepped out to reply his telephone, too. By then, Robinson sensed one thing was improper. The pianist returned and informed Robinson they wanted to go away.
As the pianist drove Robinson to the cellphone retailer, his cousin referred to as, asking, “What’s going on with Auntie Sandra?” When they reached the shop, they noticed yellow tape stretched throughout the doorway and police vehicles on the road.
Officers held Robinson again as he tried to run into the constructing. That’s how he discovered his mom was lifeless. He doesn’t bear in mind a lot after that – he misplaced consciousness and wakened in a hospital surrounded by members of the family.
“It still feels like a dream today. Like a dream I’ve never woken up from … and the dream is now my reality,” he mentioned. “Grief is something else. You’re happy, you’re sad. Sometimes you’re angry.”
With nobody to look after them, Robinson and his siblings moved in with their grandmother.
Before his mother’s killing, Robinson mentioned, he had deliberate to go into medication. After highschool, he joined a program at Albany State University to become a paramedic and briefly labored at a 911 name middle.
A couple of years later, he determined to maintain a promise he’d made to himself after his mom’s demise and utilized to a police academy in close by Tifton, Georgia.
“I decided it was time for me to pursue (a career) in law enforcement,” he mentioned. I knew what I needed. I knew I had a objective.”
He flunked out of the police academy the primary time, however tried once more, studied more durable and accomplished the coaching. On commencement day, after they referred to as out his new title, “Deputy Trey Robinson,” he broke down and cried.
“Just to get to that moment, some people didn’t know the things that I went through,” he mentioned.
Before becoming a member of the medical expert’s officer in DeKalb, Robinson briefly labored for his hometown police division and as a deputy for the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office.
His work now entails serving to folks going by one thing he understands firsthand. He relates to the households and takes satisfaction in fixing their instances, he mentioned.
“Sometimes things happen in our lives and we get diverted, we go in a different path,” he mentioned. “Everything that I do now, I do it in honor of my mom.”
Robinson mentioned he was tempted to look into his mom’s case however averted it to forestall a battle of curiosity.
His mom’s physique was discovered in a storage space in the back of the locked retailer, he mentioned. Investigators have shared restricted particulars with him as a result of the case is ongoing, he mentioned.
But a lot of questions have crossed his thoughts.
The hardest half, he mentioned, has been wanting again at his mom’s ultimate moments by the lens of a detective.
She had defensive cuts on her fingertips, possible from a sharp object — accidents that point out she fought again, he mentioned.
“I think a lot about what she went through in those last moments,” he mentioned.
The GBI has charged James, 58, with malice homicide, felony homicide and aggravated assault. Special agent Jessica Hamilton informed NCS the company can’t present extra particulars concerning the proof as a result of its investigation is ongoing.
James is being held with out bond on the Coffee County Jail, authorities mentioned. The county Clerk of Courts workplace informed NCS Tuesday that James has not been arraigned however that his case has been assigned to the general public defender’s workplace. A consultant on the public defender’s workplace declined to present additional particulars, together with whether or not James has entered a plea, whether or not an legal professional has been appointed to characterize him or whether or not a courtroom date has been scheduled.
NCS has reached out the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office and the county District Attorney’s Office to request extra info.
Robinson mentioned he has all the time believed his mom’s killer was not a stranger. Customers had reported seeing James on the retailer shortly earlier than she was discovered lifeless, he mentioned.
James had additionally labored on the retailer and had been terminated shortly earlier than his mom’s killing, Robinson mentioned. The GBI described him as “an associate of Robinson” who “could often be found at the store.”
Investigators haven’t revealed a motive for the killing. But Robinson mentioned he believes his mom could have rejected James’ advances. “I would like to know why he killed my mom,” he mentioned.
Most of what occurred in the shop that day stays a thriller. There had been no cameras inside, Robinson mentioned.
Investigators interviewed witnesses, gathered proof, canvassed the neighborhood and reviewed close by surveillance footage, the GBI mentioned.
For years, the case stalled.
Investigators declined to say how they recognized James as a suspect. But they mentioned a new overview of the proof utilizing up to date forensics evaluation finally linked him to the crime.
The push to take one other look got here from Robinson.
In 2024, he filed a request below the Coleman-Baker Act, a Georgia legislation that permits households to ask investigators to reopen and overview cold instances, Robinson mentioned at a current information convention alongside investigators.
The GBI used “advancing technology” to re-examine the proof and determine a suspect, Hamilton mentioned on the information convention.
After the arrest, Robinson’s former colleagues on the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office expressed reduction.
“Although this was not our case, it deeply impacted us,” the company posted on Facebook. “Sandra’s son, Trey, was a valued member of our team, and this matter has always been close to our hearts.”
For Robinson, that telephone name was a very long time coming.
“When I first sent in the request to reopen my mom’s investigation, I prayed for God to lead everyone … to the information that they needed to help solve this,” he mentioned.
He is aware of his journey to justice is just not over. Robinson mentioned he plans to attend as many courtroom hearings as he can.
But for the primary time in years, he mentioned, he and his household really feel a sense of peace.
On March 4, after investigators introduced the arrest, Robinson and his three youthful siblings – Quay Robinson, 31, David Pollard, 27, and Shamerican Townsend, 23 – drove to their mom’s grave in close by Broxton. They carried lilies and pink, white and pink roses.
They stood over their mom’s heart-shaped gravestone, engraved with her identify, and positioned the flowers on her grave. They shared the information they’d waited years to inform her out loud: Someone had lastly been arrested and charged in her demise.
And they informed her how a lot they cherished and missed her.