Inset: Nicholas J. Gandy (Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The area in North Carolina where Gandy’s girlfriend’s body was discovered (Google Maps).
Authorities in North Carolina have apprehended a 37-year-old man for the alleged murder of his girlfriend, who had shared a Snapchat video of them enjoying a night out at a club shortly before her death.
This week, Nicholas Jordan Gandy was arrested and is facing charges of murder in connection with the death of 33-year-old Tabulon Debreshea Reece.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department shared in a press release that officers responded to a 911 call around 6 a.m. on Sunday. The call, which requested a welfare check, reported a woman “lying on the ground and not moving” in the 700 block of Lawton Road.
When emergency responders arrived at the scene, they discovered Reece, who had sustained a fatal gunshot wound to the head. Paramedics pronounced her dead upon arrival.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Reece’s family informed investigators that she had gone to a club with Gandy, whom they described as “her longtime boyfriend,” the night before the incident.
The family recounted that Reece left their home in her Honda Accord that evening. However, the vehicle returned hours later with Gandy behind the wheel, and Reece was notably absent.
“The victim’s family members advised that Gandy returned to the victim’s residence after the murder, in the victim’ s vehicle,” the affidavit says. “They advised that Gandy told them that the victim had his vehicle and he had the victim’s. The family members advised that Gandy drives a ‘goldish’ Lexus, four-door sedan with tinted windows.”
Investigators said that Gandy’s Lexus was not with the victim when she was found.
Police soon learned that Reece posted a story to her Snapchat account at around midnight. The post showed her at the nightclub in the same outfit she was wearing at the time of her death.
“Gandy is seen with her in the video,” police wrote in the affidavit.
Cellphone data from Reece’s device showed that on the night she was killed, her device pinged in the area where her body was later discovered as well as in the 10000 block of Old Dowd Road.
Investigators later discovered that at about 4:30 a.m. on Sunday, shortly before Reece’s body was found, Gandy was arrested at an Amazon Distribution Center in the 10000 block of Old Dowd Road for what appeared to be “an unrelated incident.” Following up on that incident, detectives found that Gandy’s 2004 Lexus sedan had been towed from the distribution center parking lot.
Police responded to the towing company’s headquarters where they found the vehicle in the tow yard.
“Detectives observed blood inside the vehicle and a discharged cartridge casing on the driver’s side floorboard,” the affidavit said. “Detectives observed an ID card belonging to Gandy hanging from the rearview mirror.”
Gandy was arrested on Monday and charged with Reece’s murder. He is currently being held in the Mecklenburg County Jail without bond, records show. He is currently scheduled to make his next court appearance on March 10.
