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A repeat felon charged in connection with a Rhodes College student’s 2021 murder and home invasion pleaded guilty on Monday and received his prison sentence.
Rainess Holmes, now 40, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to serve 100% of a 20-year prison sentence, plus a combined nine years for three separate burglary cases.
Holmes, a career criminal with charges dating back to 2005, was one of four men who broke into a Memphis home housing several college students, including 22-year-old senior Andrew “Drew” Rainer, at 5:40 a.m. on Oct. 3, 2021, Shelby County court records state.
The surviving residents told Memphis police that four men with hoodies drawn over their faces kicked in their door and demanded the students’ electronics.
A memorial fund created in Rainer’s name called “Live Like Drew” says he “loved with great intensity, and showed enormous courage and self-sacrifice.” (Live Like Drew)
“One arrest has been made relative to this homicide,” Major Webb Kirkdoffer of the Memphis Police Department’s Homicide Bureau said in a statement. “However, investigators still need the public’s help identifying additional individuals who are responsible for Rainer’s murder.”
A memorial fund created in Rainer’s name called “Live Like Drew” says he “loved with great intensity, and showed enormous courage and self-sacrifice.” He was also an accomplished musician who played in an 80s rock band, an avid reader, an Eagle Scout, and a devoted member of the Catholic Church, according to his obituary.
“Drew was a loving son, brother, nephew, cousin and friend. He was a kind, cheerful, intelligent and outgoing young man, who was loved by his friends,” his obituary said.