Karmeshia Pipes: 30-Year-Old Pregnant Woman Shot Dead In Memphis
Karmeshia Pipes, 30, who was more than eight months pregnant, was shot dead in her home in South Memphis, Tennessee, police said. Authorities believe she had been dead three or four days after they found her body on January 30, 2018. Pipes' boyfriend was arrested in the slaying.
Karmeshia Pipes was expecting her baby any day now. The 26-year-old from Memphis, Tennessee was last seen by her family the day of her baby shower. They laughed together and enjoyed one another's company. Now they're planning a funeral.
Authorities have arrested Pipes' boyfriend in the murder. Ricky Anderson, 26, is charged with first-degree murder in the slaying, which police said “appears to stem from a domestic situation; however the investigation is ongoing,” police said, according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
Her brother, Nathaniel Lee, told local media that he thought his sister and her boyfriend got along well. He became concerned though when he couldn't get in contact with his sister after some days had passed.
"We have been trying to get in touch with her for about a week. We couldn't get any word or any response from her. We knew there was something this morning when we we got the call. We found out she was deceased," Pipes' brother told WREG.
Lee's sister sounded a word of advice for people in troubled relationships. "If you're not happy, leave before it gets out of control," she told the TV station. "Men, if you can't love a woman the right right way - let them go. Women, the same goes for you. If you can't love that man the right way, let him go," he said.
Lee said that the fact that an innocent baby was killed is the ultimate tragedy. "We'll never get a change to hold that baby," he was quoted as saying. "We can't hold her, kiss her, touch her or play with her. So right now, it's a hard time for us."
According to Pipes' cousin, Arerion Yarbrough, 30, said Pipes was on cloud 9 about motherhood. "“She was so happy," she told the Commercial Appeal. "She was so happy! She was so excited. She made me go in, because I wasn’t going to go out of the car. I was going to pick up my son.”
Pipes already had a name for her unborn baby girl: Rickyiha, Yarbrough said.
Police learned that Anderson and Pipes were the only ones in the home during the slaying. When asked by police what happened, Anderson wouldn't answer them, authorities said. That's when he was arrested.