A single dad working hard to give his three-year-old daughter a good life, supporting his family, putting in efforts to realize his dreams, and hoping, just hoping, that he will find a partner to support him in his path. That’s all 26-year-old Jarrell Pryor ever wanted when he went on a date, not knowing that he would never see his daughter again.
The tragedy took place in January 2025, in Indianapolis, Indiana, where Jarrell lives with his daughter Honey, whom he was raising with his ex-girlfriend. On this fateful evening, he was completing his work at a warehouse to go meet 19-year-old Alexis Hawkins, whom he had been chatting with on Instagram, on a date. His initial plan was to take her out to a restaurant, but on her insistence that she was on the clock, he drove to a McDonald’s and then a liquor store as per her request.
All this time, Jarrell had no clue that she was messaging her real boyfriend and allegedly had a deadly plot underway.
Two hours after he met Hawkins, Jarrell, riddled with bullets and in a pool of his blood, was found outside his car with no one in sight. He was immediately taken to a hospital, but succumbed to the fatal wounds. But his phone and chats with Hawkins led the police straight to her, as reported by People.
She initially denied having any connection to the shooting and stressed “[there’s] no weapon to say I did anything. My fingerprints aren’t on anything.” But her defensive stance evaporated the second the detective pointed out her texts to 18-year-old Brian Winston Jr., her boyfriend, wherein she mentioned needing money and demanded he make a “play real fast” that night. She refused to talk after this and asked for a lawyer.
She and her boyfriend have been charged with murder and attempted robbery. But while they sit behind bars, denying they did anything wrong, Pryor’s family is left to pick up the pieces. His mom knows her son had “so many plans” and “always wanted to better himself.” His family is now worried about his daughter, Honey, who is now living with Ja’halha Feemster, Pryor’s ex.
“I know she misses him because she looks around and says ‘Da-Da,’ and I tear up because she was cheated out of her father.”
–Honey’s great-grandmother Patricia Bradshaw
“She has a little shirt with his picture, and it shifts her whole mood when she’s wearing it,” added Honey’s grandmother N’yalha Feemster. “That’s the hardest thing,” his stepfather shared with Indy Star. “We had Jarrell for the time we had him. (Honey’s) not gonna get to see him no more and how do you explain to a 2-year-old where her daddy is?”
We often get the advice to go out and explore the world, especially when it comes to finding someone as a partner in life. But it is not as easy or safe anymore, is it?. The world today is more focused on its greed and ambitions, sparing no care for who gets harmed, as long as they get what they want.
Published: May 10, 2025 01:38 pm