Family mourns young mother after man allegedly kills wife, girlfriend in double murder-suicide

DALTON, Ga. (WANF/Gray News) - Several Georgia families are grieving after a man allegedly killed his wife and girlfriend in a double murder-suicide.

Police say 37-year-old Kevin Akins shot and killed his wife, 35-year-old Rebeca Akins, last Wednesday at her apartment in Dalton. He then allegedly drove to the home of his girlfriend, 33-year-old Cindel Rhoden, shot her and, afterward, turned the gun on himself.

Rhoden’s family is one of those left absolutely heartbroken, and two little girls are now without their mother, WANF reports.

“We would just like to have enough money to give her a burial she deserves, so those girls will have a place to go visit their mom,” said Lynn Barker, Rhoden‘s aunt.

Barker says it was Rhoden’s father who found her dead at her home Saturday after she wasn’t answering calls.

“She was a victim of manipulation,” Barker said. “She took people at their word. That was her mistake. But it doesn’t mean she deserved or asked or put herself in the position for this to happen.”

Rhoden worked hard to provide for her daughters, Barker says. She adds the 33-year-old was five months pregnant at the time of her death with a baby boy she intended to name Noah Elliot.

“I know everybody judges. People speculate, and they’re entitled to that. But as humans, don’t lose comion. There’s a lot of lives that are devastated and broken,” Barker said. “Nobody asked for this. Why it happened, we don’t know.”

The family started a GoFundMe to pay for burial expenses and to help Rhoden’s two young daughters.

Police say the investigation is ongoing.

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