Prosecutors have upgraded charges against the mother of Janell Carwell, the 16-year-old who disappeared in 2017 and was found dead 11 months later.
A fresh review of evidence against Leon and Tanya Tripp, Carwell’s stepfather and mother, led prosecutors to determine the couple “acted in concert” to cause the death and disappearance of the teen, said Jared Williams, district attorney for the Augusta Circuit.
Tanya Tripp, 41, was initially indicted for second degree murder, kidnapping and concealing a death in the case for which prosecutors said they are seeking the death penalty against Leon Tripp, 44.
She told police Janell left the home with her husband to help a friend with car trouble on the night the teen disappeared.
Now, she is charged with malice murder alongside her husband. Tanya and Leon Tripp were re-indicted Tuesday for malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, cruelty to children in the first degree and concealing the death of another.
According to prior reporting, Tanya Tripp claimed she had no contact with her husband after filing a missing persons report. But phone records showed numerous conversations between the two, and she and Leon Tripp were arrested three weeks later together at a DeKalb County rental truck office.
The community searched for months to find Carwell. The body of the T.W. Josey High School student was located March 8, 2018, in a shallow grave near her home on Tate Road.
In 2020, prosecutors filed a motion stating they had evidence Leon Tripp and Tanya Tripp solicited a hit man to kill the teen three times during 2015 and 2016.
Williams declined to comment further on the indictment, saying he is limited by the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct from making extra-judicial statements about the case.
