Evidence & Analysis: The Sony Millbrook Case — What the Court Record Shows, and the Questions It Leaves Open

# Evidence & Analysis: The Sony Millbrook Case — What the Court Record Shows, and the Questions It Leaves Open

A line-by-line look at the appeals court opinion in State v. Moody: the medical examiner's findings, the DNA, the false statements, the history of violence the jury heard, and the 40 days between a homicide sergeant's visit to the motel and the discovery of Sony Millbrook's body.

The Short Version

Sony Millbrook, 28, a mother of five, was last heard from on January 27, 2010, in Room 222 of the Budget Lodge on East Brooks Road in Memphis, Tennessee. She was found in that room on March 15, 2010, hidden in the enclosed frame of a bed. Her longtime partner, LaKeith Moody, was convicted of first degree premeditated murder and first degree felony murder in February 2014 and sentenced to life in prison. The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the convictions on March 15, 2016. (Sources: State v. Moody, Tenn. Crim. App. (2016); WREG, Feb. 10, 2014)

Our case breakdown tells the story in order. This article does something different. It takes the evidence one piece at a time and asks three questions: What does the court record actually say? What did the jury and the appeals court rely on? And what does the record leave unanswered?

Five findings shape everything below:

• ✔◦This is a solved case, with a documented record. There is a verdict, a sentence and a published appellate opinion. That makes it unusual among the cases we cover, because we can quote what the court said rather than rely only on news reports.
• ✔◦The appeals court said Moody did not dispute that he killed Sony. The contested issues on appeal were whether the jury should have heard about earlier violence, whether the evidence proved premeditation, and how the two murder convictions should be recorded. (Source: State v. Moody)
• ✔◦The case against him rested on several kinds of evidence working together. The medical examiner's testimony about how long strangulation takes, DNA under Sony's fingernails, his use of her benefit card and car, statements to detectives that other evidence contradicted, and a pattern of violence documented by police officers over nearly a decade. (Source: State v. Moody)
• ✔◦The motel timeline is the part the record leaves most open. A missing person report was filed the night she vanished, a homicide sergeant visited the motel by February 3, and she was not found until March 15. The opinion does not say whether anyone searched the room in between. (Source: State v. Moody)
• ✔◦News coverage and the court record disagree on several details. We list them below so that readers who find different numbers elsewhere know which source we followed and why.

A note on language: LaKeith Moody was convicted by a jury, and his convictions were upheld on appeal. We describe what he did only as the court described it. Anyone else mentioned in this article, including a man whose fingerprints were found on the bed, has not been charged with any crime in connection with Sony's death and is presumed innocent.

What "Evidence" Means Here

We read the full published opinion. We did not read the trial transcript, so everything we attribute to testimony comes from the appeals court's summary of it, not from the transcript itself. We grade every claim by where it comes from.

• ✔◦Court record: Stated in the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals opinion, which summarizes sworn testimony and exhibits. Examples: the medical examiner's findings; the DNA results; the dates of the earlier police calls.
• ✔◦Reported: Stated by news outlets, with the outlet named. Examples: the surveillance video arguments; family members' comments to reporters; the 2010 reports about an order of protection.
• ✔◦Conflicting: Sources disagree. Examples: how many times Room 222 was rented; whether an order of protection was in force.
• ✔◦Not in the record: We found no public statement. Examples: whether police searched Room 222 before March 15; what charges, if any, resulted from earlier calls.

Evidence Point 1: How She Died

What the record says

Dr. Karen Chancellor of the Shelby County Medical Examiner's Office performed the autopsy. She determined that Sony died from asphyxiation by ligature strangulation and that the manner of death was homicide. She testified that the body was in a state of "moderate decomposition." The toxicology report found no drugs or alcohol. (Source: State v. Moody)

A cable of the kind used to connect a DVD player or similar device to a television was around Sony's neck. The opinion says Moody "had made an 'overhand knot' in the cable." (Source: State v. Moody)

Dr. Chancellor testified that it would take a minimum of two to three minutes of pressure held over both carotid arteries "in a 'continuous fashion'" to cause death in this way. She also testified that when those arteries are compressed, a person "will go unconscious in a few seconds." (Source: State v. Moody)

Analysis

Those two statements from the medical examiner anchor the appeals court's reasoning on premeditation. Under Tennessee law, premeditation means the intent to kill was formed before the act. The appeals court said the manner of death supported a finding of premeditation. Its reasoning, in the opinion's own words: because a person loses consciousness within seconds but death takes at least two to three minutes of continuous pressure, "Defendant continued to strangle the victim even after she would have lost consciousness." (Source: State v. Moody)

In other words, the court treated the length of time the injury required as evidence of intent. The appeals court's discussion of premeditation leads with the medical examiner's timing testimony.

Evidence Point 2: The DNA and the Fingerprints

What the record says

A forensic biologist from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) crime laboratory examined multiple samples from Sony, the scene and the cable. The opinion reports these results:

• ✔◦Fingernails: Moody's DNA profile was found in the swab taken from Sony's fingernails.
• ✔◦The cable: On several areas of the cable, the biologist found partial DNA profiles matching Sony. In some areas there was also a "minor contributor" of male DNA, with too little to say whose it was. She "could not exclude" Moody as that minor contributor. The opinion says there were five areas on the cord with minor-contributor DNA.
• ✔◦Other samples: The TBI examiner also tested other samples from Sony and the scene. The opinion summarizes only the results above.

(Source: State v. Moody)

Separately, a Memphis police fingerprint examiner testified that three fingerprints were lifted from the fourth bed post of the bed under which Sony was found. They matched a different man, whom the case coordinator, Sergeant Brad Webb, "pursued as a suspect." The examiner did not know when the prints were left. (Source: State v. Moody)

Analysis

What the DNA does and does not show. DNA under a victim's fingernails is physical evidence of contact. It does not by itself show when, how or why contact occurred, and Sony and Moody had been in a relationship for years and had four children together. The cable result is even more limited: "could not exclude" is a statement about what the test can rule out, not a match. We are not suggesting the DNA was unimportant. We are noting that, because Moody did not dispute that he killed Sony, the DNA was never the contested question. Premeditation was.

The fingerprint lead. The opinion records that a different man's prints were on the bed and that police pursued him as a suspect. It does not say when the prints were left, what became of that lead, or whether the defense relied on it at trial. A motel bed is a shared surface, and the room had been rented to other guests, so prints on a bed post do not show that the person was present when Sony died. We are reporting what the opinion says and no more. Nothing in the sources we reviewed indicates this man was ever charged.

Evidence Point 3: What Moody Told Detectives, and What the Record Showed

What the record says

Police found Moody on February 2, 2010, at about 7:10 p.m., sitting in Sony's red 1999 Mitsubishi in a strip mall parking lot. Records showed the car was registered to Sony. That night, homicide sergeants read him his rights, and he spoke with them. (Source: State v. Moody)

According to the sergeants' testimony, Moody said:

• ✔◦He last saw Sony on January 26, 2010, at about 7:00 a.m. in the motel parking lot. They went to the room, then returned to the lot, and he took the keys to her car and drove away.
• ✔◦From January 26 until his arrest, he had been living in her car and using a gas station to clean up and shower.
• ✔◦Sony planned to use her school loan and income tax money to buy a new car, which is why he had hers.

(Source: State v. Moody)

The record contradicted each of these:

• ✔◦On living in the car: A sergeant testified that during that period "there had been periods of snow and ice." Detectives told Moody they had evidence he stayed at another hotel after January 26. Hotel records showed he checked into a hotel on American Way on February 1 and stayed one night, paying cash. (Source: State v. Moody)
• ✔◦On January 26: The housekeeping manager, Nathaniel Lewis, testified that he spoke with Sony through the window of Room 222 on January 27, at about 11:00 to 11:30 a.m., and with Moody through the window at about 2:00 to 2:30 p.m. that same day. (Source: State v. Moody)
• ✔◦On the new car: The appeals court said this statement "was not true because the victim was dead at the time." (Source: State v. Moody)

When the sergeants told Moody they would speak with his mother and other family members, he refused to make further statements. (Source: State v. Moody)

Analysis

False exculpatory statements matter because they are evidence of what a person knew. The appeals court treated Moody's account as part of the pattern supporting both premeditation and the felony murder theory. The contradiction that stands out is the simplest one: a motel employee spoke with Sony on January 27, and Moody told police he last saw her the day before.

Evidence Point 4: Her Card, Her Car, Her Wallet

What the record says

• ✔◦The benefit card. A convenience store owner gave detectives surveillance video of a transaction on February 1, 2010, at 11:38 a.m. The video shows Moody exiting a gold sedan and entering the store. He bought orange juice with the food side of Sony's card and took $185 in cash from the cash side. A four-digit PIN was required. The parties agreed that transactions were made on Sony's card from January 25 through February 1. (Source: State v. Moody)
• ✔◦The wallet. Moody's cousin, Larry Gray, testified that on January 24 Moody picked 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 took the bag to Moody's aunt's house, where he gave it to Moody's uncle. Police later recovered Sony's wallet, two benefit cards, identification, a purse and other items from a relative's home. (Source: State v. Moody)
• ✔◦The cars. Gray testified that Moody was driving a gold car in those days. When police arrested him on February 2, he was in Sony's red Mitsubishi. (Source: State v. Moody)
• ✔◦The theft charge that wasn't. Moody was arrested on suspicion of taking Sony's car but was not charged with theft. A sergeant testified this was because Moody and Sony had been in a long relationship and police could not prove he lacked permission to drive it. (Source: State v. Moody)

Analysis

Why a missing theft charge did not matter. Moody argued on appeal that, because he was never charged with stealing the car, the felony murder conviction could not stand. The appeals court rejected that. It noted that Tennessee's felony murder statute does not require a separate charge for the underlying felony, and cited cases upholding felony murder convictions even where defendants were acquitted of the underlying felony. It described the proof this way: Moody left the scene in Sony's car at the time she would have needed it to pick up her children, took her wallet to his cousin, and used her benefit card after her death. (Source: State v. Moody)

A date worth noting. The parties' agreement about card transactions covers January 25 to February 1. That range includes days before Sony disappeared. The video the opinion describes is of February 1. This is a reminder that the stipulation alone does not date each use of the card, and that the February 1 video is the transaction the court treated as occurring after her death.

Evidence Point 5: The Violence the Jury Heard About

What the record says

Evidence of prior acts of violence is normally not allowed, because it invites a jury to convict on character instead of proof. Tennessee Rule of Evidence 404(b) allows it only for narrow purposes, after a hearing outside the jury's presence, if the court finds the earlier acts proven by clear and convincing evidence and finds that unfair prejudice does not outweigh the evidence's value. (Source: State v. Moody)

The trial court held a pretrial hearing on three incidents, October 31, 2000, October 6, 2008 and March 10, 2009, and allowed the evidence on the issue of premeditation. The trial judge said her ruling was a "very close question" and "very difficult," because "domestic violence cases are extremely, extremely hard." She noted the time span between incidents was longer than one would ordinarily like to see, but said the law sets no required time limit. (Source: State v. Moody)

The jury heard testimony about the following. Each item was described by the officers who responded, or by Sony's employer or mother, and summarized in the opinion:

• ✔◦October 31, 2000: A Memphis police sergeant saw Sony at a hospital with a loose tooth, severe bruising on her chest and back pain from being kicked. She told him Moody had assaulted her after she tried to end the relationship and had "choked her unconscious."
• ✔◦October 6, 2008: Sony texted her employer that she was being held against her will. Firefighters had to pry the door open. Officers saw scratches and bruising on her neck. She told them Moody had beaten her, strangled her with a blanket until she lost consciousness, and said he would kill her if she left. Moody jumped out of a back window and was not found that day. Several small children were in the house.
• ✔◦October 9, 2008: Sony requested an order of protection. By agreement of the parties, it was granted automatically without a hearing, as is routine, with a hearing set for October 23, 2008. She did not appear, and a judicial commissioner dismissed the order.
• ✔◦March 10, 2009: Officers found Sony "hysterical" with bruises on her arm. She said Moody slapped her, pulled her hair and chased her outside, saying he would kill her. She was taken to a shelter.
• ✔◦January 22 and 23, 2010: A motel security guard testified to two arguments between Moody and Sony. The trial court held that this testimony was "just part of the facts" and did not raise a 404(b) issue.

(Source: State v. Moody)

The trial court found that Sony's statements to her mother, to the officers and to her employer were excited utterances, which are a recognized exception to the hearsay rule. The order-of-protection records were admitted under the business records exception. (Source: State v. Moody)

Two details about who testified. Sony's friend Pamela Payton testified at the pretrial hearing but not at trial. The trial court also excluded testimony from a witness, Christina Crim, about two altercations in the days before Sony disappeared, because Crim had inappropriate communications with other witnesses outside the courtroom. (Source: State v. Moody)

Analysis

Why this ruling mattered. Without the earlier incidents, a jury would have heard that a man was found with a woman's car, wallet and benefit card, and that he gave false statements. With them, the jury also heard that the same woman had told police, years earlier, that he strangled her until she lost consciousness. The appeals court reached the same conclusion as the trial court: such evidence is probative of "hostility toward the victim, malice, intent, and a settled purpose to harm the victim," quoting an earlier Tennessee Supreme Court case. It reviewed the ruling only for abuse of discretion and found none. (Source: State v. Moody)

What the appeals court did not decide. The State raised a Confrontation Clause argument in its brief. The appeals court noted that Moody had not raised that issue on appeal and "decline[d] to address" it. (Source: State v. Moody)

What the record does not say. The opinion describes police responding in 2000, 2008 and 2009. It does not say what charges, if any, resulted from those responses. In 2008, the record shows Sony signed a "Domestic Violence Hold Harmless" form declining transportation to a safe house. In 2009, she was taken to a shelter. The record shows what happened. It does not show why.

Evidence Point 6: The Motel and the 40 Days

This is the part of the record that raises the most questions, and it is also the part where we need to be most careful about what is documented and what is not.

The sequence the record establishes

• ✔◦January 27, 2010, evening: The child care center and school called Sony's mother, Christine Bennett. She could not reach Sony. Around 10:30 p.m., Officer Jeremy Todd went to her home, was told Sony had been staying at the Budget Lodge, and filed a missing person report that went to the missing persons division. (State v. Moody)
• ✔◦January 27, 2010: The room was locked for nonpayment. Security guard Cevin Jefferson was called to lock it, checked inside and found it empty. He "did not notice any unusual smells." (State v. Moody)
• ✔◦January 28, 2010: The motel's housekeeping manager bagged and tagged the family's belongings and had them stored. The room was cleaned. (State v. Moody; WMC-TV)
• ✔◦January 27 and 28: According to NBC News, family members told police that repeated attempts to reach Sony failed on both days, and that they checked the Budget Lodge but she never answered. (NBC News, 2010)
• ✔◦February 3, 2010: Homicide Sergeant Michael Brown became involved after a missing persons report had been taken. He went to the Budget Lodge and learned the room had been cleaned four times and rented three times since Sony was last seen. Someone was still renting it. He looked through Sony's belongings in the motel's storage room and found no blood or other evidence in the clothing. (State v. Moody)
• ✔◦Early February: Housekeeping manager Nathaniel Lewis testified he began hearing odor complaints. The carpet was shampooed. A father and son then rented the room for about 30 days and refused housekeeping. (State v. Moody)
• ✔◦A later date, before March 15: Guard Jefferson went to lock the room again for nonpayment. A teenage boy answered the door, and Jefferson noticed "a really bad smell." He did not enter. He told the manager it smelled "as if someone had died in the room." (State v. Moody)
• ✔◦March 2, 2010: A volunteer juvenile court probation officer, Edwina Hankins, visited the father and son. She smelled a very strong odor and air fresheners, and noticed that the bed closest to the door looked undisturbed. She told the father he needed to switch rooms or have the room checked. (State v. Moody)
• ✔◦Before March 15: Police contacted Jefferson about Sony being missing. He asked the housekeeping manager to check for blood or cleaning solution during the upcoming deep clean. (State v. Moody)
• ✔◦March 15, 2010: After the father and son left, staff deep cleaned the room. The smell was stronger. Within about ten minutes of Jefferson's request, Lewis found Sony inside the enclosed bed frame. (State v. Moody)

Forty days passed between Sergeant Brown's visit on February 3 and the discovery on March 15. (Calculated from dates in State v. Moody.)

What the record does not say

The opinion does not say whether anyone searched Room 222 on February 3, or at any other time before March 15. It describes Sergeant Brown reviewing the stored belongings. It does not describe a search of the room, and the room was occupied at the time. We are not saying no search occurred. We are saying the published record does not tell us either way, and that a trial transcript, police reports or motel records would.

The opinion also does not say how the motel handled the odor complaints beyond cleaning the carpet, or whether anyone connected those complaints to a missing person's last known room.

Analysis

Two facts sit side by side in the record. Police had a missing person report that named the Budget Lodge by the night of January 27, and a homicide sergeant visited by February 3. Meanwhile, guests and employees were reporting an odor that one employee said smelled as though someone had died. The record contains no indication that these two pieces of information were connected before March.

We want to be clear about what that observation is. It is not a finding that any person or agency was negligent. The opinion was written to decide a criminal appeal, not to review the police or the motel's conduct, and it does not address that question. It is a description of a gap in the record, and a reason the case is worth studying. A missing person's last known location was a working business that was repeatedly cleaned and rented, and the record does not show that the room itself was examined for nearly seven weeks.

Evidence Point 7: Where the Sources Disagree

News reports from 2010 and 2014 differ from the court record, and from each other, on several points. We followed the court record when it addressed a question.

• ✔◦How long she was missing. A 2010 CBS and WREG report said her body was hidden "for several months." The court record shows she was last heard from January 27 and found March 15, which is 47 days, or nearly seven weeks. WMC-TV variously said "two months" in 2010 and "six weeks" in 2014. (CBS News/WREG, 2010; WMC-TV, 2010 and 2014; State v. Moody)
• ✔◦The motel's name. CBS called it the "Budget Inn." The court opinion, WREG and WMC-TV call it the Budget Lodge. (CBS News; State v. Moody)
• ✔◦The date she was found. WMC-TV and NBC reported the discovery on a Wednesday. The court opinion, WREG and WMC-TV's 2014 verdict story give March 15, 2010, which was a Monday. CBS reported that investigators were called to the room on a Monday. We followed the court. (State v. Moody; WREG; CBS News)
• ✔◦How many times the room was rented. CBS and WREG quoted police as saying about five times. WMC-TV said five different times. Sergeant Brown testified that as of February 3, the room had been rented three times, and the room was rented again after that date. These numbers are not necessarily in conflict, because they count at different times. (State v. Moody; CBS News; WMC-TV)
• ✔◦An order of protection. WMC-TV reported in 2010 that Moody was under an order of protection to stay away from Sony at the time. The only order described in the court record was requested in October 2008 and dismissed on October 23, 2008, when Sony did not appear. We found no record of a later order. (WMC-TV, 2010; State v. Moody)
• ✔◦Her name and her children. One 2014 WMC-TV article spelled her name "Somy" and referred to her as "the mother of four." The court record and nearly all other coverage say Sony and describe her as the mother of five, with Moody the father of four. (WMC-TV, 2014; State v. Moody)
• ✔◦The surveillance video. WMC-TV reported that the defense called the video proof Moody was calm because he had done nothing wrong, while prosecutors called it further proof he was cold-blooded. The court record describes what the video shows but not the lawyers' characterizations. (WMC-TV, 2014; State v. Moody)

Common Misconceptions

"She was missing for months." The record shows 47 days between the last time anyone testified to speaking with her and the day she was found. Some early reports said "months."

"There was an active order of protection when she disappeared." Some early coverage said so. The court record describes only a 2008 order that was dismissed.

"Moody was convicted of stealing her car." He was not charged with theft. His felony murder conviction rested on a killing committed during the perpetration of a theft, and the appeals court explained that a separate theft charge is not required.

"The case is unsolved." It is not. A jury convicted Moody, and the appeals court upheld the convictions. What remains open are questions about the investigation, not about who was convicted.

What Would Change Our Understanding

Several kinds of documents would answer the questions this record leaves open. All of them are public-records or court-records requests rather than anything we can obtain ourselves.

• ✔◦The trial transcript and exhibits from Shelby County Criminal Court, No. 1100888, would show the testimony in full, rather than the appeals court's summary.
• ✔◦Memphis Police Department incident reports for the 2000, 2008 and 2009 calls, and for the February 3, 2010 visit to the motel, would show what officers recorded and did.
• ✔◦The motel's records of room rentals, housekeeping and odor complaints would show what the Budget Lodge knew and when.
• ✔◦The missing persons file would show what steps were taken between January 27 and March 15.

Anyone experiencing domestic violence can reach the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was Sony Millbrook?

Sony Millbrook was a 28-year-old mother of five from Memphis, Tennessee. She was enrolled as a student, and the director of her children's child care center testified that she was a good parent who always picked her children up on time. (State v. Moody)

When and where was Sony Millbrook found?

She was found on March 15, 2010, in Room 222 of the Budget Lodge on East Brooks Road in Memphis, hidden in the enclosed frame of a bed. (State v. Moody; WREG)

How long was Sony Millbrook missing?

The court record shows 47 days, from January 27, 2010, when she was last heard from, to March 15, 2010. (State v. Moody)

What was Sony Millbrook's cause of death?

The Shelby County Medical Examiner's Office ruled that she died of asphyxiation by ligature strangulation and that the manner of death was homicide. (State v. Moody)

Who was convicted of killing Sony Millbrook?

LaKeith Moody, her longtime partner and the father of four of her five children, was convicted of first degree premeditated murder and first degree felony murder. A Shelby County jury returned the verdict in February 2014, and he received a life sentence. (WREG; State v. Moody)

What did the appeals court decide?

On March 15, 2016, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed both convictions. It held that the jury was properly allowed to hear about earlier acts of domestic violence, that the evidence supported premeditation and felony murder, and that the case should be sent back so the judgment forms could correctly show the two convictions merged. (State v. Moody, No. W2014-01056-CCA-R3-CD)

Did Moody dispute that he killed her?

According to the appeals court, he did not. He argued that the evidence did not prove premeditation. (State v. Moody)

Did police search the motel room before she was found?

The published opinion does not say. It records a homicide sergeant visiting the motel by February 3 and reviewing stored belongings, but it does not describe a search of Room 222. (State v. Moody)

Was there an order of protection in place?

Early news coverage said so. The only order described in the court record was requested in October 2008 and dismissed that month when Sony did not appear at the hearing. (WMC-TV, 2010; State v. Moody)

What is the case number?

The trial was Shelby County Criminal Court No. 1100888. The appeal is State of Tennessee v. LaKeith Moody, No. W2014-01056-CCA-R3-CD, decided March 15, 2016. (State v. Moody)

Where can I listen to the episode?

On our podcast page. See also our case preview and case breakdown.

Sources

• ✔◦Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals, State of Tennessee v. LaKeith Moody, No. W2014-01056-CCA-R3-CD (filed March 15, 2016): read source
• ✔◦WREG, "Man Guilty In Murder Of Woman Found Under Motel Bed" (Feb. 10, 2014): read source
• ✔◦WMC-TV / Action News 5, "Body of missing mother of five found under hotel bed" (2010): read source
• ✔◦WMC-TV / Action News 5, "Suspect on trial for murder of woman found dead under motel bed" (2014): read source
• ✔◦WMC-TV / Action News 5, "Memphis man found guilty in 2010 motel murder" (2014): read source
• ✔◦CBS News / WREG, "Sony Millbrook: Missing Woman Found Under Motel Bed" (2010): read source
• ✔◦NBC News, "Body of missing mom found inside bed frame" (2010): read source

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 article is based on a published appellate opinion and publicly available reporting current as of this writing. We did not review the trial transcript. LaKeith Moody was convicted by a jury, and his convictions were upheld on appeal. Anyone else mentioned is presumed innocent. This article describes evidence and gaps in the public record. It does not make findings about any person's or agency's conduct. NaturalQueen77 TV strives for accuracy but cannot guarantee completeness. This post uses AI-assisted research and production tools._

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