Friend arrested in murder of college student found in burning car, mother says

EAST POINT, Ga. — Three weeks after she was found in a burning car, police have made an arrest in the murder of an 18-year-old college student.

Police said they received a tip that one of her friends had been talking about her death and had burns on his hands.

Officers say Kington Hyman-Bozeman later confessed to shooting Tayla Torres before he and another man burned her body.

Only Channel 2's Tom Jones was at the courthouse for Hyman-Bozeman's first appearance as Bozeman learned he is now facing malice murder charges.

Jones has been following the case since police found Torres on Jan. 9.

Torres' mother, Pearlie Haynes, told Jones that her daughter and Hyman-Bozeman were friends and they would hang out together at their house.

She considered the 24-year-old a close family friend who even threatened to hurt himself when she called and told him the news of her daughter's death.

Now, Haynes wonders whether that was all an act.

"He broke down crying. Boo hoo crying. Dropped the phone," she said. "Knowing the entire time that he did it. Wow. I mean, heartless."

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Clayton County police have charged Hyman-Bozeman with murdering the Villa Rica High School graduate last month. Detectives say he shot Torres multiple times as they were driving together on Clark Howell Parkway.

Police say Torres was shot in a dispute over money. However, her mother claims Hyman-Bozeman was madly in love with her daughter and was upset she wouldn't date him.

Police received several tips after releasing surveillance video of someone using Torres' debit card at an ATM in the Camp Creek Marketplace.

Court documents obtained by Jones indicate that Hyman-Bozeman called the man after the murder and suggested getting a gas can to set the victim's car on fire.

"Does Georgia have (the) death penalty? We do. OK. Well.  We gonna push for that," Haynes said.

Charges are pending against both men for arson in Fulton County.

Cox Media Group