Case Breakdown: The Murder of Sony Millbrook

# Case Breakdown: The Murder of Sony Millbrook

Quick Context

On the morning of Wednesday, January 27, 2010, Sony Millbrook, 28, dropped her young children off at a child care center in Memphis, Tennessee. She never picked them up. Her family called police that night. On March 15, 2010, nearly seven weeks later, motel workers found her in Room 222 of the Budget Lodge on East Brooks Road, hidden in the enclosed frame of a bed, in the room where she and her family had been staying. (Sources: State v. Moody, Tenn. Crim. App. (2016); WREG; WMC-TV)

Her longtime partner, LaKeith Moody, the father of four of her five children, was convicted of first degree premeditated murder and felony murder in February 2014 and sentenced to life in prison. The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals upheld his convictions on March 15, 2016. (Sources: WREG, Feb. 10, 2014; State v. Moody)

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A note on sources and dates: Most of what follows comes from the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals opinion, which summarizes testimony from the trial, and from local news coverage in 2010 and 2014. Where sources differ, we say so, and we follow the court record. For example, a 2010 CBS report calls the motel the "Budget Inn," while the court opinion and WREG call it the Budget Lodge. Her first name appears as "Sony" in the court opinion and most outlets. A 2014 WMC-TV report spelled it "Somy." News outlets also gave different counts of how many times Room 222 was rented, because they counted at different points in time. Everything below is current as of October 20, 2026.

Who She Was

Sony Millbrook was 28 years old and the mother of five children. Her mother, Christine Millbrook Bennett, testified that Sony had five children and that Moody was the father of four of them. The opinion also says Sony was enrolled as a student at a school it calls "Southwest." (Source: State v. Moody)

In January 2010, three of her children, then about three months, two years, and three or four years old, were enrolled at a child care center on Norris Road. The center's director testified that Sony was a good parent who always picked up her children on time. She normally dropped them off between 7:00 and 7:30 in the morning and collected them between 1:00 and 2:00 in the afternoon, and she called if she was going to be late. (Source: State v. Moody)

A friend, Pamela Payton, who had known Sony since the eighth grade, testified at a pretrial hearing, though not at trial, that Sony and Moody began dating in 1998. Payton said she last spoke with Sony the day before she disappeared. Sony told her there was a lot going on and that she was pulling up to a hotel. Payton testified that Sony said she had something to tell her, and that "if she left the hotel or he left first, she will call me back and tell me what was going on." (Source: State v. Moody)

Sony's cousin, Jennifer Pickett, spoke to WMC-TV after her body was found. "In 50 years, I think I'll still feel the hurt that I feel right now for her," she said. (Source: WMC-TV, March 2010)

A History of Violence

Prosecutors asked the trial court to allow evidence of earlier acts of domestic violence. The court allowed it, and the Court of Criminal Appeals later agreed it was proper. The incidents below were described by police officers and other witnesses and summarized in the appeals court opinion. (Source: State v. Moody)

• ◦◦October 31, 2000: Police went to a Memphis hospital after a domestic violence call. An officer testified that Sony had a loose tooth, severe bruising and back pain. She told him Moody had assaulted her after she tried to end the relationship, and that he had choked her until she lost consciousness.
• ◦◦October 6, 2008: Sony texted her employer that she was being held against her will and asked her to call police. Officers had to have firefighters pry open the door. Sony had scratches and bruising on her neck. She told officers that Moody had beaten her, had strangled her with a blanket until she lost consciousness, and had threatened to kill her if she left. Several small children were in the home. Moody jumped out a back window and was not found that day.
• ◦◦October 9, 2008: Sony asked for an order of protection, telling staff she feared for her life. The request was granted automatically pending a hearing, as is routine. She did not appear at the hearing set for October 23, 2008, and the order was dismissed.
• ◦◦March 10, 2009: Officers were called again. Sony said Moody had slapped her, pulled her hair, and chased her outside saying he would kill her. She was taken to a shelter.

Sony's mother testified that about a year after Sony began seeing Moody, she noticed a bruise across her daughter's chest, and that Sony told her Moody had caused it. (Source: State v. Moody)

Timeline

• ◦◦1998 — Sony and LaKeith Moody begin dating, according to a friend's pretrial hearing testimony. (State v. Moody)
• ◦◦October 31, 2000 — Hospital domestic violence call. (State v. Moody)
• ◦◦October 6 and 9, 2008 — Sony is held in her home and texts her employer for help; she later asks for an order of protection, which is dismissed on October 23 when she does not appear. (State v. Moody)
• ◦◦March 10, 2009 — Police respond to another domestic disturbance. (State v. Moody)
• ◦◦January 22, 2010 — A security guard at the Budget Lodge sees Moody yelling at Sony, who is on a second-floor balcony with children nearby. The family is moved to Room 222. (State v. Moody)
• ◦◦January 23, 2010 — The guard hears another loud argument. (State v. Moody)
• ◦◦January 27, 2010 — The housekeeping manager speaks with Sony through the window of Room 222 at about 11:00 to 11:30 a.m., and with Moody at about 2:00 to 2:30 p.m. The room is locked for nonpayment. Sony does not pick up her children. Her mother cannot reach her. Around 10:30 p.m., an officer takes a missing person report at her mother's home. (State v. Moody)
• ◦◦January 28, 2010 — The motel bags and stores the family's belongings and cleans the room. (State v. Moody; WMC-TV)
• ◦◦February 1, 2010 — Surveillance video at a convenience store shows Moody using Sony's food assistance card at 11:38 a.m., taking out $185 in cash. He checks into another hotel that day and pays in cash. (State v. Moody)
• ◦◦February 2, 2010 — Police find Moody sitting in Sony's red Mitsubishi and arrest him on suspicion of taking her car. He is not ultimately charged with theft, because police could not prove he lacked permission to drive it. (State v. Moody)
• ◦◦February 3, 2010 — A Memphis police homicide sergeant becomes involved after a missing person report on Sony has been taken. He learns the room has been cleaned four times and rented three times since Sony was last seen. (State v. Moody)
• ◦◦February to March 2010 — Guests complain about a bad odor from Room 222. The carpet is shampooed. A father and son rent the room for about thirty days. (State v. Moody)
• ◦◦March 2, 2010 — A volunteer juvenile court probation officer visits the room, notices a strong smell, and tells the father to switch rooms or have the room checked. (State v. Moody)
• ◦◦March 15, 2010 — After the father and son leave, staff deep clean the room. The smell is stronger. Workers lift the mattress and box springs from an enclosed bed frame and find Sony. (State v. Moody; WREG)
• ◦◦February 2014 — A Shelby County jury convicts Moody of first degree murder. (WREG, Feb. 10, 2014)
• ◦◦March 15, 2016 — The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals upholds his convictions. (State v. Moody)

The Motel

Sony, Moody and their children were staying at the Budget Lodge on East Brooks Road. Cevin Jefferson, a security guard, testified that on the evening of January 22 he saw Moody drive into the lot very fast and yell at Sony, who was on a second-floor balcony. Children were with her. Moody threw a bag up to the balcony. The guard told him to keep the noise down. Moody later came to the front office agitated, and the guard told him to hand over every room key he had. He produced keys to three rooms. (Source: State v. Moody)

Soon after, the family asked to change rooms. Moody chose Room 222 for himself, Sony and the children. The guard testified that he heard another loud argument the next day, and that the night manager decided Moody needed to leave the property that night. (Source: State v. Moody)

On January 27, housekeeping manager Nathaniel Lewis went to Room 222 to tell the couple to pay the bill or check out. He testified that he spoke with Sony through the window at about 11:00 to 11:30 that morning. Later, at about 2:00 to 2:30 p.m., he spoke with Moody through the window. The lights were off and Lewis could not see inside. Moody said his mother was on her way to pay. No one came. The motel locked the room for nonpayment and, the next day, stored the family's belongings. (Source: State v. Moody)

That is the last time anyone testified to speaking with Sony.

The Search

Sony's mother testified that on the evening of January 27, the school called about her eldest granddaughter, and then the child care center called between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m. She tried Sony's phone and got no answer. She picked up the eldest child, and her husband collected the others between 6:15 and 6:30 p.m. Officer Jeremy Todd testified that he went to her home at about 10:30 p.m. and filed a missing person report, which was sent to the missing persons division. Officers were told Sony had been staying at the Budget Lodge. (Source: State v. Moody)

Moody was not found right away. On February 1, he was seen on surveillance video at a store using Sony's food assistance card. The store owner testified that the card had a cash benefit side and a food side, that Sony usually used it on the first of the month, and that a four-digit PIN was required. The parties agreed that transactions on her card were made between January 25 and February 1. Moody then spent the night at another hotel, paying cash. (Source: State v. Moody)

On February 2, at about 7:10 p.m., detectives found him in Sony's 1999 red Mitsubishi in a strip mall parking lot. Records showed the car was registered to Sony, and he was arrested on suspicion of taking it. A sergeant later testified that Moody was not charged with theft because he and Sony had been in a long relationship and police could not prove he did not have permission to drive the car. Homicide sergeants interviewed him that night. He said he last saw Sony on January 26, that they had gone back to the hotel room, and that he had then driven away in her car. He said he had been living in the car since. Detectives told him they had evidence he had stayed at another hotel, and he then said he had stopped by a house on a different street. When they said they would speak with his mother and family, he stopped answering questions. The opinion notes that the weather during that week included snow and ice. (Source: State v. Moody)

Moody's cousin, Larry Gray, testified that on January 24, Moody stopped by to pick up a DVD player Gray had borrowed. A few days later, Moody visited again and asked Gray to take the DVD player to Moody's mother. Gray saw a brown wallet in the bag, and he took it to Moody's aunt's house, where he gave it to Moody's uncle. Gray testified that Moody told him he had gotten some new shoes and a shirt, had a gun charge, and was going to turn himself in. The appeals court noted that Moody had also been driving a gold car, not Sony's red Mitsubishi, during that time. Police later recovered Sony's wallet, two benefit cards, identification, a purse and other items from a relative's home. (Source: State v. Moody)

CBS News reported at the time that Moody was being held on an unrelated federal gun charge when Sony's body was found. WMC-TV reported he was arrested on a warrant for possession of a gun by a convicted felon. (Sources: CBS News/WREG, March 2010; WMC-TV, March 2010)

The Discovery

The motel rented Room 222 to other guests while Sony was missing. By the homicide sergeant's count on February 3, the room had been cleaned four times and rented three times. Housekeeping manager Lewis testified that he began hearing complaints about an odor in early February. The carpet was shampooed, and he smelled nothing afterward. A father and his son then rented the room for about thirty days and refused housekeeping. Complaints continued. (Source: State v. Moody)

On March 2, volunteer juvenile court probation officer Edwina Hankins visited the father and son and noticed a very strong smell and air fresheners. She also found it odd that the bed closest to the door looked undisturbed. She told the father he needed to switch rooms or have the room checked. (Source: State v. Moody)

After the father and son left in March, the housekeeping staff deep cleaned the room, including carpets, linens and curtains. The smell was stronger. Security guard Jefferson asked Lewis to look for the source. Lewis found that the room had two kinds of beds. One had legs and open space beneath it. The other had an enclosed frame, like a box. When Lewis removed the mattress and box springs from the enclosed frame, he found Sony. The two men called police. (Source: State v. Moody)

A Memphis police crime scene sergeant testified that she arrived on March 15, 2010 and noticed the odor of death and decay before she reached the room. Dryer sheets were on the floor near Sony, and the box springs had been resting on her. (Source: State v. Moody)

What the Evidence Showed

• ◦◦Cause and manner of death: Dr. Karen Chancellor of the Shelby County Medical Examiner's Office testified that Sony died of asphyxiation by ligature strangulation, and that the manner of death was homicide. She said it would take a minimum of two to three minutes of continuous pressure over both carotid arteries to cause death in that way, and that a person loses consciousness in a few seconds. Toxicology found no drugs or alcohol. (Source: State v. Moody)
• ◦◦DNA: A TBI forensic biologist testified that Moody's DNA profile was found in a swab from Sony's fingernails. A partial male profile on the cable could not exclude Moody as a minor contributor. (Source: State v. Moody)
• ◦◦Her card and her car: Moody used Sony's food assistance card on February 1 and was driving her car when he was arrested on February 2. The opinion also notes the car was the one Sony would have needed to pick up her children, and that her wallet ended up with Moody's relatives. (Source: State v. Moody)
• ◦◦His statements: Moody said he last saw Sony on January 26 and had been living in her car. The housekeeping manager testified he spoke with Sony and Moody through the window of Room 222 on January 27, and hotel records showed Moody checked into another hotel on February 1. (Source: State v. Moody)
• ◦◦Another set of fingerprints: Three fingerprints on a post of the bed where Sony was found were matched to another man, whom the case coordinator pursued as a suspect. The opinion does not say when those prints were left or what became of that lead. (Source: State v. Moody)
• ◦◦The surveillance video: WMC-TV reported that the defense said the video showed Moody calm because he had done nothing wrong, while prosecutors argued it showed he was cold-blooded. (Source: WMC-TV, 2014)

The Trial and Verdict

Moody was tried in Shelby County Criminal Court. Jurors heard about the earlier incidents of violence, the events at the motel, and the evidence above. In February 2014, the jury found Moody, then 38, guilty of first degree murder. The District Attorney General's office said he received an automatic life sentence. The jury convicted him of both first degree premeditated murder and first degree felony murder, the latter based on a killing committed during the perpetration of a theft. The trial court entered the judgments on June 20, 2014, noting that the two counts merge. (Sources: WREG, Feb. 10, 2014; Action News 5, 2014; State v. Moody)

The Appeal

Moody appealed on three grounds: that the court should not have allowed evidence of earlier domestic violence, that the evidence did not support his convictions, and that his two murder convictions should have been merged into one. According to the Court of Criminal Appeals, Moody did not dispute that he killed Sony. He argued that the evidence did not show premeditation. (Source: State v. Moody)

On March 15, 2016, the court disagreed. It held that the earlier acts of violence were admissible to show hostility toward Sony, malice, intent and a settled purpose to harm her. On premeditation, the court pointed to the manner of death, including the medical examiner's testimony that strangulation took at least two to three minutes of continuous pressure; to the concealment of her body and the dryer sheets placed with her; to the earlier violence; and to Moody's conduct afterward. On the felony murder conviction, the court noted that Moody left in Sony's car at the time she would have needed it to pick up her children, that he took her wallet and used her benefit card after her death, and that his statement that she planned to buy another car with school loan and tax money was not true. Moody pointed out that he was never charged with theft of the car. The court said felony murder does not require a separate charge for the underlying felony. The court affirmed the convictions and sent the case back so the judgment forms could show the two murder convictions merged into one. (Source: State v. Moody)

What the Record Leaves Open

The public record answers who was convicted, and how. It leaves other questions unanswered.

• ◦◦How was Sony unfound for nearly seven weeks? A missing person report was filed the night she disappeared. A homicide sergeant visited the motel by February 3. The room was cleaned and rented repeatedly, and guests complained about an odor for weeks. The appeals opinion does not say whether anyone searched Room 222 itself before March 15.
• ◦◦What happened to the order of protection? Early WMC-TV coverage said Moody was under an order of protection to stay away from Sony when she disappeared. The only order described in the court record was requested in October 2008 and dismissed when she did not appear at the hearing. We found no record of a later order.
• ◦◦What did the earlier calls to police lead to? The opinion documents police responses to Sony's home in 2000, 2008 and 2009. It does not say what charges, if any, resulted from those responses.

We are not drawing conclusions the record does not support. These are the open questions that remain for anyone who reads it.

Sources

1\. Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals — State of Tennessee v. LaKeith Moody, No. W2014-01056-CCA-R3-CD (Mar. 15, 2016)

2\. WREG — Man Guilty In Murder Of Woman Found Under Motel Bed (Feb. 10, 2014)

3\. WMC-TV / Action News 5 — Body of missing mother of five found under hotel bed (2010)

4\. WMC-TV / Action News 5 — Suspect on trial for murder of woman found dead under motel bed (2014)

5\. WMC-TV / Action News 5 — Memphis man found guilty in 2010 motel murder (2014)

6\. CBS News / WREG — Sony Millbrook: Missing Woman Found Under Motel Bed (2010)

7\. NBC News — Body of missing mom found inside bed frame (2010)

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, the National Domestic Violence Hotline is available 24/7 at 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE), or text START to 88788.

_Disclaimer: This post is based on publicly available reporting and court records current as of this writing. LaKeith Moody was convicted by a jury, and his convictions were upheld on appeal. Anyone else mentioned is presumed innocent. NaturalQueen77 TV strives for accuracy but cannot guarantee completeness. This post uses AI-assisted research and production tools._

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