A Georgia man will spend the rest of his life in prison after brutally killing a lady who refused his obsessive, amorous advances. Antonio Wilson, 43, was sentenced to life without parole on Tuesday for the murder of Fabiola Thomas, 39, in June 2019.
The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office prosecuted the killer as a domestic violence case because he and his victim had only recently started dating before the house invasion and strangulation that killed Thomas.
During the trial, prosecutors demonstrated that the two met on a dating app, according to a courtroom report from Atlanta-based ABC affiliate WSB.
And the woman certainly played it safe.
“Ms. Thomas did everything that you would think you should do,” Assistant District Attorney Abigail Potter told WSB-TV. “She informed her buddies where she was heading. She would only meet him in public.
While Wilson perceived things to be moving quickly, Thomas certainly did not reciprocate those thoughts of too much, too fast. While he looked to fall in love quickly, she equally quickly rejected him.
“She unfriended Antonio Wilson the day before she died,” Nalda Charles, Senior Assistant District Attorney, told WSB-TV.
The woman also made her decision pretty clear.
“I don’t give a [redacted] about a ring,” Thomas texted Wilson. “Keep your ring, I’m not your woman, never was, stop claiming me because I never claimed you.”
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Thomas texted Wilson, “You crazy, I don’t want anything from a man I barely communicate with, jewelry, money…” “It means nothing to me if you don’t know who I am.”
The killer broke into the Atlantic Newtown Apartments in Roswell, Georgia, a far-flung northern suburb of Atlanta, the next day after receiving the notes. He strangled her to death and left her body in the bathtub.
“And that is the most chilling part because she’s getting ready for work, she’s in her pajamas,” Charles went on, “It was just so terrible. It was superfluous; it didn’t need to happen. She was unarmed, helpless, and in her home, all because she refused.”
Thomas was slain early in the morning on June 8, 2019. Neighbors reported seeing her outside near her car at 7:30 a.m. that day. Around 8:40 a.m., her roommate phoned the police.
“The male caller was frantic and hysterical, he advised officers that his roommate was in his bathtub and that something bad had happened to her,” law enforcement claimed initially – when the case was still unknown.
Wilson was charged with malice murder and arrested in October 2019.
His conviction also took place on Tuesday. According to the TV station, after hearing from witnesses who identified the culprit and reviewing crime scene images, Fulton County jurors deliberated for only 30 minutes before finding him guilty.
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“My sister was attacked and murdered in her home,” the victim’s brother, Myrto Charles, told Law and crime. “My sister enjoyed and cherished life. She had plans and goals she wanted to achieve, but they all perished with her, as she gasped for her last breath.”
Those who knew her became emotional throughout the sentencing hearing.
“Her life mattered,” one of Thomas’ loved ones stated through tears. “She lived with purpose.”