Teen charged with 2022 murder of Memphis pastor indicted for same-day carjacking
The teenager charged in the shooting death of Rev. Autura Eason-Williams was indicted for two additional criminal charges in early August.
Miguel Andrade, 16, was indicted for two counts of first-degree murder and one count of especially aggravated robbery in February. The teen was transferred from Shelby County Juvenile Court to be tried as an adult in January.
The new charges against Andrade, who has been out on bail since February, are in connection to a carjacking he is accused of committing following Eason-Williams’ killing in July 2022.
According to the indictment, Andrade is charged with carjacking and use of a firearm with intent to commit a felony.
Andrade was charged alongside two other people, including another teen and 22-year-old Eduard Rodriguez Tabora. The other teen entered a guilty plea, and will not be named since he was sentenced as a juvenile.
Neither Tabora nor the other teen were indicted for this carjacking.
Previously: Video shows man accused in death of reverend was not the shooter, will face grand jury
Assistant District Attorney Forrest Edwards said that he could not go into details about if second indictment for Andrade, but said that if he was accompanied by anyone else during the alleged carjacking “they would probably be in this indictment.”
The indictment does not name anyone other than Andrade.
Prosecutors believe the case is nearing a close, with Edwards saying he and the defense attorneys have been “working towards a resolution. I would be surprised if we went to trial” for the Tabora and Andrade cases.
The two defendants will next be in court on Sept. 26.
Eason-Williams was found dead in her driveway on July 18, 2022, and her Infiniti Q50 was missing. A police affidavit said there were six bullet casings found on the ground. Her cause of death, which was presented in Tabora’s October 2022 court appearance, was listed as “multiple gunshot wounds.”
An affidavit said she was shot and then pulled from the car before it was stolen. Surveillance footage that was presented at Tabora’s court appearance in October showed the Infiniti being driven away by an individual prosecutors say was Andrade, who prosecutors identified as the shooter.
“At this point, the co-defendant [Andrade] is in the vehicle,” said Sgt. Qadeer Smith of the Memphis Police Department’s homicide bureau when reviewing the footage during Tabora’s court date in October. “[Andrade] actually runs over the victim as he’s backing out of the driveway. They leave together – well – one vehicle going one direction and the other vehicle going into a different direction.”
Eason-Williams was the district superintendent of the Metro District in the Tennessee-Western Kentucky Annual Conference, the pastor of Capleville United Methodist Church and a Memphis Theological Seminary alumna.
Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Teen charged with pastor's 2022 murder indicted for same-day carjacking
