COBB COUNTY, Ga. – A Texas woman has been sentenced to prison and ordered to receive mental health treatment after pleading guilty to a string of crimes that ended up killing an elderly woman.
Kristie Renee Nesby pleaded guilty to a series of crimes in 2016 that led to the death of a pedestrian, 71-year-old Luci Turner, who was walking to her job at a Burger King on Cobb Parkway near Bells Ferry Road.
Nesby’s crime spree started shortly after 5 a.m. on May 11, 2016. According to police, Nesby approached a man in Smyrna with a handgun and demanded his wallet and car keys. The man was finishing up a job for his cleaning company, according to prosecutors.
After the armed robbery, Nesby hit another vehicle at a high rate of speed on Interstate 575. Nesby fled and exited off an exit ramp in the wrong direction. She hit a second vehicle and didn’t stop.
Police said Nesby drove off the roadway at Cobb Parkway near Bells Ferry Road and went up on a sidewalk, hitting Turner. The elderly woman later died from her injuries.
After hitting Turner, prosecutors said Nesby hijacked a vehicle from a woman driving on Bells Ferry Road. Nesby headed toward I-75, hijacked a second vehicle and, still armed with a handgun, robbed another woman of her cell phone.
While driving to Atlanta, Nesby called 911 and threatened to take a hostage and kill them and herself unless police chased her with “blue lights” to stop her, according to prosecutors. She told police someone put something in the area that was affecting her organs. She also told dispatchers that a fast food employee put something in her drink the night before and it was causing her to hallucinate and commit the crimes.
Police said Nesby hit several cars on North Avenue in Atlanta then went off the roadway into some landscaping. She attempted to hijack another car but failed.
Nesby was carrying two handguns when she was arrested. She was tested for drugs and alcohol, but investigators found she was sober during the crime spree.
On Oct. 3, Nesby pleaded guilty but mentally ill to 10 charges, including homicide by vehicle, armed robbery, hijacking a motor vehicle, hit and run, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during a felony.
Nesby’s defense team provided evidence of her mental illness. Prosecutors and defense asked the court to find Nesby mentally ill, and to determine that, although she may have been having delusional compulsions that overmastered her will, they would not have justified her crimes.
Cobb Superior Court Judge Stephen Schuster made the requested findings as required by law and accepted Nesby’s plea. Judge Schuster sentenced her to 55 years, with 20 years served in prison without parole. Nesby will also receive mental health treatment in prison.
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