Prosecutors say Skyy Mims stabbed, suffocated clerk but left cellphone behind

Victim's blood traced to Mims' home

Slaying suspect Skyy Mims approaches the podium in a Whitfield County court Monday afternoon.
Slaying suspect Skyy Mims approaches the podium in a Whitfield County court Monday afternoon.
photo Skyy Mims

Prosecutors said Monday that aspiring model and rapper Skyy Mims killed a gas station clerk and stole 80 stratch-off tickets to support her entertainment career.

The victim, Dahyabhai Kalidas Chandhari, was known to regulars as "Dickey," according to testimony by customer Mike Rogers.

Whitfield County District Attorney Bert Poston said Mims stabbed the clerk twice in the kitchen when the store was empty, then covered his face in duct tape, pinching his nose to cut off his ability to breathe.

But in her haste to leave the murder scene, Mims forgot to take her cellphone with her, and police later found it next to the body, Posten said. The phone was registered to Mims, and pictures of Mims were on the phone, police say.

When an anonymous tip led Police to Mims, they found a dress and a black hoodie she wore that day, along with gloves, duct tape and a knife with the victim's blood, according to the district attorney.

When officers found Mims, she told them to kill her, Poston said.

But Carla Marable, Mims' attorney, attempted to cast doubt on prosecutors narrative. Marable said that another woman named Keisha Jones looks just like Mims. The two "could be identical twins," Marable said. Moreover, the video surveillance doesn't directly show the killer's face, Marable said.

In fact, Jones and Mims came to Atlanta from the same Detroit neighborhood to visit a friend, Marable said.

Marable maintained that Mims was "too high" on MDMA to commit the crime, and was scared about an existing warrant out for her arrest on charges of property destruction.

She also downplayed the DNA evidence found at Mims' home, saying that Mims was in a communal home and police did not test DNA on other gloves.

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