Steven Carden and Thomas Smith anticipated an enjoyable night out, but by dawn, tragedy had struck—Carden was left critically injured, and Smith was no longer alive.
The evening’s celebration took a sinister turn near an apartment complex in Norcross, Georgia. Authorities discovered Carden drenched in blood with a gunshot wound to his head. Nearby, Smith sat dazed on the curb, incoherently speaking about a girl.
Investigators were initially stumped, but a vital clue was left at the scene: a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun shell casing.
“Under the circumstances, it was quite peculiar,” noted former Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter on an Aug. 22 episode of Oxygen’s The Real Murders of Atlanta. “Hornady produces top-quality bullets, indicating that whoever committed this crime meticulously ensured the gun would function perfectly.”
What Happened to Steven Carden?
Detectives later approached Smith, who was healing from severe head injuries at the hospital. Despite his condition, he managed to recount the series of events leading up to the fatal incident on July 29.
In the hours before the murder, the friends went to a bar with $4,000 in cash. There, Carden met a woman, who he planned to meet later at an apartment complex.
While Smith drove, the woman texted Carden directions. At one point, Smith forgot to turn on the headlights and was stopped by police. An officer searching the car didn’t uncover anything illegal, a detail that Gwinnett County Homicide Detective Matthew Kenck pointed out, “Becomes important later.”
Smith was not intoxicated. However, the officer administered a field sobriety test that was inconclusive, so he took the car keys and told the men to arrange for another ride.
Carden and Smith were already within walking distance of the apartment, so the woman guided them along a route through a wooded trail and past an area with dumpsters.
But the friends realized they weren’t alone.
“They see that two men are following them,” reporter Tara Lombardo said. “They become increasingly scared and uneasy.”
The men eventually caught up with Smith and Carden and attacked. Smith said he tried to fight back but lost consciousness. When he woke, their $4,000 was gone and he was surrounded by first responders.
When detectives spoke to Carden’s family, they described him as a wonderful father and couldn’t think of anyone who wanted him dead.
Had Carden been duped into a deadly trap?
Carden’s phone records showed that the woman had used a prepaid burner phone, which can be difficult to trace. Still, the phone held messages about moving guns and mentioned an address in Snellville.
That address was linked to an attempted robbery by a teenage suspect who had used a .40-caliber gun loaded with Hornady ammunition. When detectives compared the gun with the shell casing recovered at Carden’s crime scene, it was a ballistic match.
The teen admitted to the attempted robbery—and said he bought the gun from a man named Jovian Lanus.
Jovian Lanus, Tyler Estrada and Diara Hood Become Suspects in Steven Carden’s Murder
Social media photos of Lanus matched Smith’s physical description of one of the suspects, but that wasn’t enough to tie him to Carden’s murder.
That is, until another violent crime surfaced.
A woman and two men had recently attempted to rob a landlord, and, during a struggle, the woman fired a warning shot, leaving behind a now-familiar piece of evidence: a .40-caliber Hornady shell casing identical to the one found at Carden’s crime scene.
“This is a huge connection for us,” noted Kenck. “But we still have a lot of holes in our case.”
Two of the suspects—Tyler Estrada, 18, and Diara Hood, 22—were in custody, and detectives wasted no time questioning them.
Hood told police that she recalled meeting Smith and Carden but denied involvement in the murder.
“They were talking about partying and stuff like that,” she claimed in a recorded interview. “What they really wanted was sex. They were supposed to meet me, but they never showed up.”
Detectives knew Hood’s story wasn’t that simple.
Phone data showed that each time Hood communicated with Carden, she immediately contacted Estrada or Lanus. Then, social media photos showed Hood, Estrada and Lanus posing with guns. One posted the night before the murder depicted Hood and Estrada at a club next to the one that Carden and Smith had visited.
Eventually, Hood opened up.
She claimed she had been giving Carden directions in the apartment while Estrada and Lanus were there. After the men left, she said, she stayed on the phone with Carden until she heard a commotion on the other end of the call and it suddenly disconnected. Moments later, she heard a gunshot.
Hood said Estrada and Lanus must have overheard her conversation and decided to attack the men.
Then, it was Estrada’s turn.
He confirmed to investigators that he and Lanus had intercepted Smith and Carden to rob them—but claimed the plan was Hood’s idea. Estrada said Lanus assaulted one of the men and as he headed back to the apartment, he heard a gunshot.
As police prepared to arrest Lanus, Estrada offered a warning.
“He said to expect resistance,” said Kenck, “that the doors were probably barricaded. Based on that, we get the SWAT team involved.”
On Nov. 8, 2013, authorities surrounded Lanus’ home and he surrendered.
Once in custody, Lanus claimed Carden had pulled a gun on him, forcing him to shoot in self-defense.
“This goes back to the traffic stop,” said Kenck. “We know he didn’t have a gun on him. In such a strange twist of events, that traffic stop helps prove there was never any evidence of a gun.”
Lanus, Hood and Estrada were charged with murder.
In Nov. 2015, Hood went to trial and was found guilty of murder and aggravated assault.
Lanus’ case took an unexpected turn.
While prosecutors played a recording of his police interrogation, he leaned over to consult with his attorney.
“Jovian paused the trial and he pled guilty,” Kenck said. “He knew there was no beating it.”
Meanwhile, Estrada pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Lanus and Hood were sentenced to life without parole.