The man who prosecuted murderers in an execution-style killing looked down at the body in July 2012. The young attorney experienced an empty feeling. No one knew who the dead man was.

July 17, 2012, was an extremely hot, humid day. The sun beat down on the murder scene behind a vacant house at 402 Metcalfe Ave.

Law enforcement officers and assistant district attorneys worked night and day with little nourishment and no sleep. They did not see their families. They were determined to find out who the dead man was and who shot him in the back and in the back of the head.

During predawn hours two days later, officers, assistant district attorneys and SWAT bore down on a house on Simeon Street and an apartment at a College Street housing project.

It had been determined late on the afternoon the day of the murder the dead man was 21-year-old Hassan Hana Williams, who had been honorably discharged from the U.S. Army a few days before.

He had arrived in Thomasville the night before to rekindle a relationship with a Thomasville woman with whom he had served in the military. The relationship led to Williams’ death at the hands of two Thomasville brothers. His female friend also was charged with his murder.

The trio of murderers has been sentenced to life in prison without parole, life with parole consideration after 30 years — plus a number of other years of incarceration for arson in burning the victim’s car and for armed robbery, the apparent focal point of the entire tragic event.

Williams, a U.S. Army airborne ranger, served in the military for two years, including a tour in Iraq.

Jim Prine, assistant district attorney, said in his closing to the jury Wednesday that Williams fought for Americans’ rights, including the right of Alvin Davis III to have a jury of his peers decide his fate.

Williams, a high school honor graduate, was an outstanding athlete who played football, basketball, rugby, soccer and baseball. He was offered college football scholarships, but turned them down and entered the army to have income to support his unborn daughter, now age three.

The car the convicted individuals burned was a 1995 Mercedes described by Williams’ father as his son’s “dream car.” The vehicle was a recent purchase.

Davis told some people he shot Williams. He told others his brother, Chaquel Jaquez Cook, was the shooter. He said his brother shot Williams in the back, and he shot him in the head to stop the soldier’s suffering. Davis said his brother put his foot on Williams’ back before shooting him.

Davis court-appointed lawyer, Rick Collum, of Moultrie, told the jury his client was “the weak one” of the brothers and told people he shot Williams to bolster his image.

Prine, the prosecutor who had seen the body soon after it was discovered, described the brothers and the woman who lured the victim to Thomasville, Kiera Shanice Graham, as “a three-headed monster, a killing machine.”

“It just didn’t sit well with anybody,” Prine said, describing the first hours after the body was discovered.

Officers from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Thomasville Police Department, Thomas County Sheriff’s Office and Thomas County/Thomasville Narcotics/Vice Division went to work immediately and continued to work straight through for several days and nights.

“It was a total team effort,” Prine said.

See Friday’s edition for more details.