JASPER – A Woodville man is in custody, on a manslaughter charge, after an incident that occurred on the night of Tuesday, May 27 resulting in the death of his girlfriend.
According to Jasper Chief of Police Garrett Foster, 19-year-old Keniyah Brenae Williams, of Woodville, died from a gunshot wound to the head.
Jasper police began investigating the incident before midnight on that Tuesday when Williams had been brought to the Christus Jasper Memorial Hospital emergency room and died shortly after arriving.
Initially, the death was being investigated as a homicide, but according to the probable cause affidavit, 23-year-old Kristopher Tayshaun Drayton told officers that he and Williams were in transit, along Jasper’s Main Street and US 190, and an argument arose.
Drayton told officers that he removed his pistol from his waistband and placed it between the driver’s seat and the center console of the vehicle they were in and that the weapon “went off and struck Keniyah,” according to the affidavit.
Drayton had reportedly been at the hospital ER with Williams “covered in blood,” according to hospital staff, and was holding the couple’s two-month-old son. He was taken to the Jasper Police Department station that night and provided his account of the incident.
Jasper County Pct. 2 Justice of the Peace Raymond Hopson arraigned Drayton on Wednesday morning, and issued the charge of manslaughter. He is being held on a $500K bond in Jasper County Jail. Jasper police are continuing the investigation into the case, and investigators have recovered the weapon believed to have been used in the fatal shooting.
Williams’ death sent shockwaves through the Woodville community, with many posting tributes to social media, and remembering the bright young mother of two as a hard-worker and kindhearted, devoted mother.
Her mother Ashley Lacey said her daughter “had a village around her” that will come together and look after and take care of her children.
Lacey led a balloon release in tribute to Williams last Saturday evening in Woodville, with more than 400 red and black balloons “to paint the sky red and black for my girl Keni.”
