‘Brutally taken’: Undocumented immigrant accused of strangling mom of 5 to death

ATLANTA (WANF/Gray News) - An undocumented immigrant is accused of strangling a mom of five to death, according to authorities.

Hector David Sagastume Rivas, 21, faces charges of felony murder and aggravated assault for allegedly killing 52-year-old Camilia Williams.

“You hear about it, but it doesn’t affect you until it happens to your family,” Arsene Williams, Camillia’s brother, said. “You never think it will happen to your family, but it can.”

Rivas is from Honduras and has been in the United States since March 2021, ICE said. He was living with two other undocumented immigrants, who have also been arrested and detained by the Department of Homeland Security.

On March 13, Cobb County police were called to 282 Pat Mell Road, where they found Williams’ body.

Rivas allegedly choked Williams and put his knees and body weight on her neck, killing her, according to his arrest warrant.

Gov. Kemp said the woman was “brutally taken.”

“He doesn’t need to be deported he needs to be exported—executed—the same way that he executed my sister,” Tony Williams, Camillia’s brother, said.

Williams’ brother said she was a mother to five children and the only family member to live in metro Atlanta. She’s originally from Louisiana.

The alleged murder comes a little more than a year after Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student, was killed on the University of Georgia’s campus while jogging. Jose Ibarra, an undocumented immigrant, was convicted of her murder in November.

Riley’s death led to the Laken Riley Act, which mandates that undocumented immigrants accused of theft, burglary, assaulting a law enforcement officer and “any crime that causes death or serious bodily injury” be federally detained and likely deported.

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