TRUE-LIFE
Two loving parents were executed in their bed
Dawn and Antonio Armstrong were the kind of couple others envied. While raising three bright, outgoing children, the pair ran a chain of three gyms together.
A power couple, respected in the community.
They’d met at Antonio’s mother’s church.
Antonio was an assistant pastor and professional American football player, while Dawn already had a baby boy, Josh, who Antonio adopted when they wed.
They had two children together, Antonio Jnr – known as AJ – and Kayra.
Once his football career ended, Antonio loved to coach AJ and Josh in sport.
After almost two decades together, Antonio and Dawn were still utterly in love.
Dawn was always on hand with a camera – desperate not to miss any poignant moment of family life.
And that month, she posted a happy photo of her hubby on Facebook, captioned, This guy is my everything.
A week later, on 28 July 2016, the family went to bed as usual.
But in the early hours of the morning, AJ, then 16, called the police.
He was hiding in a wardrobe.
‘We’re gonna need police,’ he whispered, explaining he’d heard gunshots in his parents’ bedroom and the shooter might still be inside.
He stayed on the line for 16 minutes until officers arrived.
Josh, then 20, had recently moved out, but AJ got his sister Kayra, then 12, out of bed.
Took her to the door and disabled the alarm system to let police in.
Officers found Dawn, 42, dead in bed – shot twice in her head.
Antonio, 42, had been shot once in the head. He was still alive, in a critical condition. Both had pillows over their heads.
As Antonio was rushed to hospital, officers searched the house and found all windows locked, blinds down, no sign of forced entry.
No intruder. Plus, AJ needed to turn off the alarm to let them in…
They found the murder weapon, too – Antonio’s own handgun, on the kitchen worktop, with an ominous note.
I’ve been watching you for a long time. Come get me.
A mystery intruder?
Within hours, Antonio died too, and AJ was charged with his parents’ murders.
He protested his innocence.
Claimed he’d seen a masked intruder in the house.
And his family supported him.
‘I thought someone had lost their mind, trying to charge my grandson with killing his mom and dad,’ Dawn’s father Keith Whitely said. ‘It’s impossible,’ said Antonio’s mother Kay Winston.
Thousands attended the Armstrongs’ funeral, including AJ, who stood at the front, a jacket draped over his hands to hide handcuffs.
‘Just staring, just looking at two caskets with the people that, like, I love more than anybody and knowing I’
