Pair Indicted in Robbery, Murder Scheme

July 2, 2020 – A Memphis man and a teenage girl were indicted Wednesday on first-degree murder and other charges in an alleged scheme in which the victim was lured to a home where he was robbed and shot, said Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich.

A grand jury also indicted Jalen Braden, 26, and Breanna Williams, 17, on felony charges of tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.

Investigators said that on July 3, 2019, Williams, then 15, invited 20-year-old Baba Said to a house in the 1400 block of Amarillo St. near Kimball and Semmes. When he arrived, however, Braden confronted him with a gun, robbed him of $20 and shot him in the back of the head.

Braden and Williams then wrapped the victim’s body in plastic bags, placed it in trunk of his car and disposed of it in a drainage ditch near Park and Getwell. Said’s car was found on the interstate the following day, prompting a missing-person search for Said.

A GPS ping from Said’s phone led searchers to the area of the Amarillo residence where several days later investigators saw a sofa on the curb with a large blood stain. More blood was found in Braden’s house, and he eventually gave police a statement of is involvement.

Said’s body was discovered by a boater three months later near a marina at Martin Luther King Jr. Riverside Park.

The case is being handled by Chief Prosecutor David Zak and Felony Assistant Paige Munn of the District Attorney’s Vertical Team 6 which handles cases in General Sessions Division 15 and in Criminal Court Division 10.