Investigation closed in the case of Georgia mom of 5 found dead under mysterious circumstances

The death of a mother of five, which took place last November, has earned national attention because of its rare circumstances. After three months of investigation, police closed the case and ruled the death as accidental, but the woman’s parents are not happy about the decision.

Tamla Horsford was found dead in the backyard of a friend’s house in Forsyth County, Cumming, in November 2018. She was there as part of an adult slumber birthday party, and videos took the night before she was found show her singing happy birthday in the company of friends.

However, the 911 call made by the homeowner the next morning, reveals they believed Horsford had fallen from the balcony while everyone else was sleeping.

At a news conference on Wednesday, February 20, the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office announced they were closing the investigation after concluding there was no foul play in Tamla’s death, as her family and best friend have suggested.

Mayor Joe Perkins cited the medical examiner, who ruled that Horsford injuries were consistent with a fall from the home's deck. The report stated that the fall caused “multiple blunt force injuries” and that "acute ethanol intoxication" was a contributing factor.

Perkins also revealed that officers interviewed over 30 people, including the people at the party, and family members of the deceased, as part of the investigation. In the end, they found “no evidence or injury patterns” that could indicate an assault or foul play.

Michelle Graves, Horsford's friend, has publicly stated she believes her friend’s death was not an accident. Some of her injuries, she said, were not consistent with a fall. The woman also revealed that Horsford’s family hired another medical examiner, who found extensive injuries of Tamela’s body.

Kurtland St. Du Jour, Horsworth's father, spoke to Atlanta DJ Ryan Cameron's radio show after the sheriff's announcement. "Her injuries were not consistent with what they're saying," St. Du Jour said. "This is so fishy; I just don't want it to get out of hand."

He believes someone threw his daughter’s body off the deck. “Her wrist was cut, broken. Where the body was, there was no blood pool, which means she was already dead," he revealed.

The homeowner’s attorney released a statement asking people to respect their client’s privacy and to stop sending death threats to those involved in the case.

“At this time, each of the partygoers and their families have received death threats on various social media postings. The threats need to stop. This tragic accident is exactly that, an accident,” the statement read. And continued:

“It is unfortunate, sad, and unbelievably heartbreaking to her family and friends. However, certain very vocal friends and family members of Mrs. Horsford have been describing this accident as a 'murder.' Nothing could be farther from the truth.”

In a related sad occurrence, a 37-year-old hairstylist, Nichol Olsen, and her two daughters, ten-year-old London and 16-year-old Alexa, were found dead with gunshot wounds at her boyfriend’s Texas home last month.

The case was initially ruled as a murder-suicide, but police officers began to suspect foul play and kept open an investigation into the deaths. Sheriff Javier Salazar said that Charles Edward Wheeler, who had been dating Olsen for two years, was named a "person of interest" in the case but not a suspect.

He was the one who made the 911 call after finding the three bodies around 9 am on January 9. Deputies said they found Wheeler crying on the front yard of the house, but that "there were no visible tears."

Olsen's friends said she was not suicidal and would never hurt her children. Salazar stated his office "won't be swayed" by the medical examiner's finds and would continue to look for answers. The FBI joined the Bexar County Sheriff's Office in its investigation.