Abree Boykin’s Murder: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Abree Boykin, a military spouse who was living on an army base in Fort Stewart, Georgia was killed in her home in 2018 and federal prosecutors in Georgia revealed on October 17 that another person has been indicted in relation to her murder.

Stafon Jamar Davis pleaded guilty to killing Boykin, a childhood friend, in federal court in 2020.

Devin Ryan is a South Carolina man who met Davis while both of them were in federal prison for other charges, according to federal prosecutors. He is being accused of helping obstruct the investigation and destroy evidence relevant to Boykin’s murder.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. Abree Boykin Was the Wife of a Deployed Soldier

According to the Army Times, Boykin was the wife of Sergeant Shawn Boykin, who was deployed in South Korea at the time of the Boykin’s murder. He was “assigned to Fort Stewart’s 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division.”

According to a Facebook page dedicated to her, Boykin went to Joseph Wheeler High School and on her Instagram page, she described herself as a “master cosmetologist.”

Boykin was also close to her cousins based on several Facebook posts. In one, she wrote, “I’m sorry FB but I had to show the most love to my girl Gee. My cousin is really like a reflection of me. (Exactly the same but completely opposite 😂🤣) I love her sooo much. That’s my Craig y’all and nobody can come between us.”

Roughly a week before her death, Boykin wrote a post in which she described being sick and missing her husband. “I get off work in a hr then it’s off to school. And I have a test today. 😩 I just wanna go home get over being sick and talk to my husband until I KO. #OfficiallyMissingYou #teamboykin #mysoulmate #bringbackmyhusband,” she wrote.

2. Boykin Was Shot Twice in 2018

The Army Times reported that after Boykin missed a call with her husband, he asked military police to conduct a welfare check, which is when she was found.

At the time, Christopher Grey, a spokesperson for the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, described Boykin’s death as a “horrific and senseless murder of a member of our Army family,” according to the Army Times. He also said that they believed no one else at Fort Stewart was at risk, telling people, “At this point in the investigation, we believe this was an isolated incident and the victim possibly knew her assailant.”

Court records later revealed that she had been killed on July 9, 2018 and shot “twice in the side of the head with a Taurus PT111 9mm semi-automatic handgun.”

3. Stafon Jamar Davis Initially Pleaded Not Guilty to Boykin’s Murder in 2020

Federal prosecutors initially charged Davis with premeditated murder and the possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Davis had been convicted of a bank robbery in 2010; court documents show that in September of 2010, Davis had pleaded guilty to robbing the GeoVista Federal Credit Union of $8,000 at gunpoint.

Davis, who was 27 at the time, initially pleaded not guilty to shooting Boykin after he was charged, local news station WGXA reported. However, on September 17, 2020, the Department of Justice announced that Davis had pleaded guilty to her murder. “Davis admitted to being a childhood friend of Abree Boykin and to shooting and killing her in the early morning hours of July 9, 2018, in her on post residence and fleeing Fort Stewart in her vehicle,” part of the press release read.

“Stafon Davis’ admission of guilt in the cold-blooded murder of Abree Boykin will help bring some degree of closure in this horrific crime against the spouse of a deployed American soldier,” U.S. Attorney Bobby L. Christine said in a press release from the Department of Justice.

4. Davis Met Ryan in Prison

GettyFBI seal.

According to court documents, Ryan knew Davis from when they were both in federal prison and at a halfway house on supervised release. Like Davis, Ryan was also in federal prison on armed robbery charges.

In 2010, Ryan pleaded guilty to robbing the owner of a South Carolina pawn shop store at gunpoint and stealing weapons and money, according to federal court records. Ryan was also accused of violating the conditions of his supervised release and a warrant was issued for his arrest due to multiple infractions; those infractions included testing positive for marijuana use in 2018, and in 2019, threatening a woman with a silver pellet gun and “grabb(ing) the female victim’s buttocks without the permission of the victim.”

According to court records, at the time of Boykin’s murder, “Devin Ryan knew both he and (Stafon Davis) were on supervised release, and that any violation of local, state or federal law was grounds for revocation” of that supervised release.

5. Ryan Has Been Charged with Multiple Felonies

According to court records, Ryan has been accused of obstruction of justice, using fire in commission of a federal offense and making a false declaration before a grand jury.

In a press release announcing the indictment of Davis, members of the Atlanta branch of the FBI and the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command reported that they were still searching for Boykin’s vehicle. The agencies offered a combined reward of $20,000 for information that could help them recover her 2018, black Honda Accord.

Court documents describe what prosecutors say happened to the vehicle. Davis asked Ryan to assist him with “getting rid of a car” and in response, Ryan told Davis to bring that car to Hardeeville, South Carolina, and provided him with directions, according to court documents. Ryan then led him to “a remote location on Bellinger Hill Road” and brought a full gas container. The complaint then accuses Ryan and Davis of dousing Boykin’s car with gasoline and lighting it on fire, which caused it to explode.

After Boykin was found murdered, Ryan was subpoenaed and asked to testify in her murder, during which prosecutors say he provided false testimony. According to that charge, Ryan was asked if he tried to help Davis “sell the car, get rid of the car” or anything like that and he said, “No.” When he was asked whether he “(had) any idea where that car ended up?” he said, “No, ma’am.”

Ryan could face a maximum penalty of 35 years in prison if found guilty on all three counts.

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