Their story didn’t make sense from the very start. Most people following the tragic and brutal slaying of Vanessa “Honey” Malone never bought into the alleged sequence of events that left a beautiful hundred pound promising teen girl dead in a Stone Mountain apartment just a little over a year  ago. Three adults who say they survived a home invasion told cops that 4-6 mask gunman broke into there Atlanta suburb home, tied them all up, and killed the Malone youth who they say walked in on the robbery while it was in progress. Responding officers to the shooting scene say they found the pretty petite woman dead from multiple gunshots to her back.
The door to the apartment had damage consistent with someone having gained entry to the dwelling by force, it all fit the story the survivors told police, but the behavior of the 2 men who survived the home invasion suggest that they both had something to hide. One of them actually fled the scene before cops arrived (later revealed he had an outstanding warrant for an unrelated handgun charge) and the other hid potential evidence in the case. Travarese Benefeld was subsequently charged with tampering and hindering. TPC has learned that he walked with just probation on those charges last week. It was widely believed that the disposition of that case would prove to be crucial in unraveling what happened the night “Honey” was gunned down. Now it seems as if the cops have accepted the story they were told, and dashing any hopes that Benefeld would play a key role in finding the young woman’s killer(s).
The murder of “Honey” is perhaps one of the most cowardice acts of violence that I can recall in recent memory. The tale of 4-6 gunman just doesn’t make sense, and if we consider that the Malone teen may have been killed to silence a potential witness to the crime, it’s mind boggling why the others lives were spared. It’s clear in my mind that “Honey” was an intended target of violence that night. A woman more stout than the small framed 100 pound Malone youth wouldn’t have stood a chance against such a heavily armed ban of robbers. Malone posed no threat to these men, and if they were all masked as the survivors have alleged, she wouldn’t have even been able to identify any of them. There is serious doubt that the men killed the teen out of fear that she could finger them for the home invasion.
Furthermore, if it all went down like the survivors describe, “Honey” would have only gotten a mere glimpse of the men anyway. The three adults who strangely weren’t killed also, more  than likely got a better look of the thugs considering they were all tied up by the men.  The gang of men allegedly searched the apartment but only took a wallet and a cell phone. That’s a crock of shit. You mean to tell me that they killed the girl for a blackberry? It doesn’t fit. In fact it almost sounds like the wallet and cell story was fabricated to give the appearance that at least something was taken from the home, and justifying the home invasion story.
I believe the fact cops accepted this entire home invasion-murder tale is just keystone cop work at it’s best. If this murder had occurred in a major metropolitan area like New York . Philadelphia, Chicago, or Detroit, the survivor’s story wouldn’t even have been entertained. Police are suspicious by nature because the job dictates that everyone is a suspect until sufficient evidence presents itself excluding potential suspects to the contrary of their possible involvement in violent crimes. Why police investigators were readily eager to adopt the fishy story that these three told, is beyond comprehension. Then to add insult to injury, nobody in the neighborhood heard nor saw anything. Those who may have information pertaining to the case, remain hidden in a cowardice peril like scared bitches.
Then again, Dekalb County has a storied past of inadequate police investigative work. The Atlanta Child Murders case went unsolved for years, until police investigators and their crooked politician cronies picked a patsey named Wayne Williams and framed him for the murders. Justice for people of color in the south historically comes slow, and often times never arrives. It’s even safe to assume that had “Honey” been white like her mother, the case would already have been solved. The police would have turned the entire community upside down until somebody gave the killers up. Now that’s not playing the race card, but a sad fact on how murders of people of color are poorly and haphazardly investigated.
However, the time has long since come and gone for the black community to stop depending on the government to correct violence, crime, and other community disruption which derive from some of the very people who live within the black community. As long as black people remain silent bowing down to a “street code of silence” which derived from criminals, many of our sons and daughters will continue to perish in street violence from black on black crime.
In “Honey’s” case many say she was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. A sane person couldn’t possibly believe that. These cowardice bastards were waiting for her, and it’s clear they wanted her dead. None of the three who survived has come to offer any information to Flora Malone (“Honey’s” Mom) since she was killed. To me, that in it’s self speaks volumes about their knowledge of exactly what happened the night she died. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world have come to the Malone family’s aid in terms of support and getting “Honey’s” story out to the public. Many of these people will probably never even meet the Malone family, but their sheer compassion moved them to make an impact in some of the smallest ways, yet those who survived and were supposed to have been her friends haven’t even made it a priority to speak to Ms. Flora about what happened to her beautiful daughter.
Now they are saying Ms. Flora needs to keep quiet, stop posting so much about “Honey”, and just let her rest. I can’t believe how insensitive some people can actually be. What if “Honey” was your daughter, and the bastards who shot her in the back and took her life are still walking around free? I hope she talks about her precious daughter until the day she leaves this earth if the killer(s) haven’t been caught. I won’t stop talking about her, I want stop writing about her, and I will continue championing this promising child’s tragic story until justice has been served. That’s the absolute single most disturbing issue within the black community, being too afraid to take a stand for the benefit of your family, and the entire community. Start pointing their black asses out  and just maybe you can make a difference in your community and save someone’s child life, or you can sit around remaining silent until the next body bag picked up off the streets is your kid.  #R.I.P Honey
David B. Adams is a journalist, crime writer, and founder of The People's Champion, a platform built on truth, justice, and advocacy for the overlooked. For over a decade, Adams has investigated wrongful convictions, missing and exploited children, homelessness, and the political forces that shape marginalized communities' lives.
What sets his work apart is a refusal to sensationalize. Adams treats crime reporting as human storytelling — pushing past headlines to examine the systemic failures in law enforcement, the courts, and government that so often go unexamined. He's built a reputation among activists and advocates for combining deep research, personal narrative, and unflinching commentary.
The People's Champion began as a personal outlet and has grown into a respected independent voice in crime and justice journalism, read by audiences nationwide who care about accountability and the people too often left out of the story.
