ALBANY, Georgia — The courtroom went quiet when Melassia Thornton stood up and looked directly at the man who killed her daughter.
She did not scream. She did not curse. She begged.
“You have an opportunity to give me that closure by telling me where my baby’s body is,” Thornton said, her voice breaking. “Please tell me where my baby is, so I can go on with my life and at least have a place to go.”
Ryan Cooper sat stone-faced. He said nothing.
Four Years With No Answers
Lacambria Deonshay Toomer, 23, was last seen in Albany on August 13, 2022. Authorities believe Cooper killed her around August 15 or 16. He claimed he dropped her off at a gas station. Phone records and text messages told a different story.
Her body has never been recovered.
For Thornton, that silence has been its own punishment.
“Without the location of her body, my grief has no resting place,” she said through tears. “Every day is longer than it should be.”
She described walking through wooded areas and wading through water, searching on her own because that is what a mother does.
She is now raising Toomer’s son — Cooper’s child — who was just an infant when his mother was killed.
Sentenced to Life
A Dougherty County jury convicted Cooper of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and concealing a death. The jury took less than an hour to reach that verdict.
Judge Denise Marshall said she had never sentenced anyone to life without parole before.
“But I am going to do it today,” she said, calling Cooper’s silence in court “cringeworthy.”
Prosecutors said Cooper killed Toomer to send a message and deliberately disposed of her body to erase any trace of her existence.
Toomer’s body still has not been found. Her mother still has no place to go and mourn.
What do you think should happen in cases where a killer refuses to reveal the location of a victim’s body? Share your thoughts in the comments.