Krystal Evans, a mother and real estate entrepreneur from Griffin, Georgia, had been embroiled in a bitter divorce battle since 2022 and was trying to move on from a violent marriage. “She was so happy after her divorce. She felt free,” her daughter Precious told local news station 11Alive. “We were even talking about doing a party.” But then the unthinkable happened. Two days after the divorce was finalized and she was granted a permanent protective order, her ex-husband, Tom Mallory, opened fire on her in broad daylight as she sat in her vehicle in front of the Spalding County Courthouse after a hearing.
Evans died from her injuries, and now her loved ones are demanding answers, accusing the sheriff and police of dropping the ball.
On the day of the hearing, Precious said a family friend asked a court clerk to arrange an escort for Evans as she left the courtroom, but somehow, the message was never relayed. She believes if the police had not ignored the seriousness of the situation, her mom would still be alive.
“My mom, literally, called the sheriff — the sheriff’s department the day before, because he was stalking her,” Precious said. “And they did nothing. Had they had someone to walk out with her, like her friend asked, she would still be here.”
However, Spalding County Sheriff Darrell Dix disputed this claim and defended his deputies in a Facebook post on Sept. 14. “For a fact, the person that started the rumor that Mrs. Mallory [Evans] asked for an escort has admitted that it was a lie,” he wrote, adding, “Video from the lobby shows that as Mrs. Mallory walked through the lobby, she passed Deputies and did not ask for assistance either.”
By all accounts, the couple had a tumultuous marriage, and Dix said deputies had responded to many domestic violence calls at their home but often had difficulty determining who was the aggressor.
“There were times when she claimed he hit her or pulled a gun on her, there were times where he said she got angry hit him, and shot at him. This was by all definitions a toxic relationship,” he wrote, adding that on one occasion, Mallory was arrested, but he posted bond.
Throughout the harrowing divorce proceedings, The 44-year-old victim turned to Facebook to post about her husband’s erratic behavior, and as she put it, “leave a paper trail.”
On Aug. 3, 2024, she wrote, “It’s sad that I have to walk around, terrified for my life and my children’s. I know if something happens to me. Please know who did it. This man has said numerous times he’s going to kill me. I am posting and trying to leave a paper trail. This man is extremely dangerous.” A few weeks later, she posted a still from a Ring camera with the caption, “Tom Mallory, stay away from us. You are a sick man Leave us alone. This is sad. Please leave us alone.”
One day before her death, she wrote, “Dude please leave me alone. It’s over. Move on with you life. Plz. Respectfully.”
In his Facebook post, Dix explained that Mallory shot Evans from his car window and immediately sped off, refusing to stop for police. When deputies caught up to him, they found him suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and administered first-aid. He is recovering at the hospital, and warrants were obtained for felony murder and other associated causes, a GPD spokesperson confirmed.
“Do improvements need to be made to the law, yes they do. Maybe it wasnt a Deputy or my agency that failed, maybe it was the law itself. By the way, the Deputies that allegedly refused to escort her are the same ones that removed her from the car, tried to control the bleeding and tried to save her life,” Dix wrote.
The Sheriff’s response did little to assuage Precious’s anger and grief. “You are literally just trying to clear your name ! You failed my mom you and your whole division! But I’m going to get my mama the justice she deserves !” she replied in the comments.
Speaking about her mother’s relationship, she told 11Alive, “After the divorce, this man literally texted her, ‘Not happening,'” adding that “I feel like I don’t have nobody. I don’t have nobody to lean on, to comfort me.”
