Man Convicted Of Murder Of Grandmother Days Before Christmas

ATLANTA, GA — A 20-year-old man was convicted of the murder of a Publix employee and grandmother days before Christmas in 2017, according to a release from the Fulton County District Attorney's Office.

According to the release, on Dec. 21, 2017, De'Asia Page, 18 at the time, waited outside the Publix on Campbellton Fairburn Road in Fairburn. Toni Abad, 58, left the store after a shift. Page asked her for a ride. "Being the caring woman that she was, Abad agreed," the release says.

Page directed Abad to Church Street off Cascade Palmetto Highway, about five miles from the Publix.

When they arrived, Jared Kemp, Page's boyfriend, then 18, was waiting. He came out of the woods with a baseball bat and broke the driver's side mirror of Abad's car. He then hit her with the bat. She begged for her life, but he kept hitting her, murdering her, the release says.

The pair put Abad's body in the trunk, got rid of her cellphone, drove the car to the back parking lot of a Waffle House and left the car, according to the release.

An abandoned vehicle call led to a Fulton County police lieutenant finding the vehicle, eventually finding Abad's body in the trunk.

The release says Page admitted to her involvement in the murder to a security guard at a service station near the murder scene. She was arrested on Dec. 24, 2017, and gave details of the crime to an investigator.

Page will be tried at a later time, the release says.

Abad is survived by four sons and five grandchildren, the release says. She was described as a caring woman always willing to help others, and would give to other even when she didn't have much to give.

"On behalf of our entire family and friends, we are forever grateful for this verdict," Michael Chamblee, Abad's son, said in the release. "We believe justice has been served. 'Thank you' isn’t enough to show our extreme gratitude for Deputy District Attorney Cara Convery, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Constance Russell, and the entire jury for the time that they gave to this case. Mom was loved by so many, even more than she realized."

Kemp was convicted of murder, felony murder, armed robbery, hijacking a motor vehicle in the first degree and aggravated assault. He will be sentenced on Tuesday, Oct. 29.