This episode of Murder Chose Me features Detective Rod Demery recounting the investigation into the murder of store owner Maeung Ram Ellis, who was shot trying to fend off a robber.
Ellis was something of a pillar of the Korean community in Shreveport, La, and owned Goody’s Beauty Supply store on Fairfeld Avenue in the city.
In January 2007 a young man entered the store and attempted to rob Ellis. She was in the store with a cashier and when the robber failed to get any cash from the register, she decided to act. Ellis resisted the robbery and tried to push him out of her store, it was then that she was shot in the head and died in hospital.
There was little evidence at the scene, but later some of friends of the robber went to the police to report what he had done. Police arrested 15-year-old Corenza Kelly and charged him with first-degree murder.
Kelly went to the police station with his mother and made a statement admitting that he’d gone to the store armed with the gun with the intention of robbing it. He told detectives that he never intended to shoot anyone and that the gun went off as he raised it to scare Ellis as she was using her hands to push him out.
In 2009 Kelly was convicted of second-degree murder and Caddo District Judge Mike Pitman sentenced the teen to life in prison with no possibility of parole.
He appealed the verdict but the sentence was upheld in 2010.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelYou can read more about Detective Demery in this article.
Murder Chose Me – American Nightmare airs at 10:00 PM on Investigation Discovery.