In 1994, the couple moved to Peachtree City and bought a moving and storage company. It became \u201ca million dollar business,\u201d said Atlanta television reporter Shaunya Chavis.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nRuby and Halima, a teacher and administrator, became friends after meeting at a social club. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nRuby\u2019s relatives rallied together to search on their own, while investigators formulated a strategy. They began at the Sears store where the women were supposedly headed.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Store employees didn\u2019t recognize photographs of either woman, and the search was a dead end. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nDetectives enlisted help from the media as law enforcement went into all-hands-on-deck mode to work the case. The GBI, Atlanta police, and Peachtree City Police all were involved.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nRuby Joyner and Halima Jones Found Murdered<\/h2>\n
On November 21, Jones\u2019 van was found at the Atlanta airport. Had the friends gone on a trip? Or was foul play involved?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nThe van was locked. But investigators saw that \u201ca blanket was covering a mound of objects” inside, said Brett Zimbrick, a former homicide detective with the Atlanta Police Department.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nThe bodies of Ruby and Halima were eventually found inside the vehicle. A CSI team determined that the two had been dead for a week, and that they died in different ways:\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Halima had been shot in the head, while Ruby had been strangled, severely beaten and had leaves and twigs on her body, said Zimbrick.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nThere was no gun, shell casings, fingerprints or DNA evidence found in the van by the CSI team.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nAs the victims\u2019 loved ones dealt with the loss, detectives awaited the autopsy results. The medical examiner determined that both women had died about five days before their bodies were found.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>That meant they were killed the night they went missing. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nRELATED:\u00a0Georgia Banker Shot, Dumped in a Well By Man Who Used Voodoo to Scare Witnesses<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nDetectives interviewed the victims\u2019 spouses. John, an air traffic controller, told officials that he and his wife were estranged but still amicable. He was confirmed to have been at work on November 15 and cleared from suspicion.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nLewis, who had been in contact with detectives by phone from New York, stopped returning investigators\u2019 calls. He seemed to have vanished. Had he become another victim?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nLewis Joyner Linked to Illegal Narcotics<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\nDetectives searched the Joyner home in Peachtree City. They found no sign of Lewis but <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>turned up a computer, files on it, and a ledger. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nThe<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0evidence showed that Lewis was bankrupt, according to <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>The Real Murders of Atlanta<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/i>. The case took a shocking twist when investigators searched Lewis’ storage unit, where they found multiple bags of cocaine<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>. \u201cJoyner was possibly involved in cocaine distribution,\u201d said Baity. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nInvestigators theorized that Ruby was murdered because her husband owed money to people involved in the world of narcotics. Halima was in the wrong place at the wrong time.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nTen days into the investigation, detectives still couldn\u2019t get in touch with Lewis. His mother and sister had no information on his whereabouts. So police issued a warrant for his arrest for drug possession.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nLove triangle Is a Bombshell Revelation<\/h2>\n
At the same time police interviewed Ruby\u2019s inner circle that turned up a bombshell lead: Lewis was having an affair with Halima.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nWith the revelation of the possible love triangle, investigators focused on that lead and put their narcotics theory on the back burner, according to Zimbrick. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n