Teenagers indicted in 2019 slaying of White Station grad
Two teenagers have been indicted on counts of first-degree murder in the shooting death last year of Jack Luibel, an 18-year-old who had recently graduated from White Station High School, the Shelby County District Attorney’s office announced.
Talas Bonds and Erin Tillman are accused of using a dating app to lure Luibel to a house on Clifton Avenue in Frayser, where he thought he was going to meet a woman, according to the prosecutor’s office. Instead, Luibel, who had played football at White Station, was fatally shot in what authorities describe as an attempted robbery.
Bonds and Tillman were both 18 years old at the time of the shooting on Sept. 2 — Bonds has since turned 19, according to law enforcement records. Both remain jailed.
The two teenagers also face charges for other robberies around the same time last year. Two of the cases involved robberies of pizza delivery drivers, and one of those drivers was robbed on Sept. 20 while delivering an order to the same house where Luibel was killed, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Another victim had been robbed on Sept. 1 at another house where he thought he was meeting with a woman he met on a dating app, the DA’S office said.
According to arrest affidavits, Bonds was first arrested on charges related to the Sept. 1 robbery on September 17. Tillman was arrested shortly thereafter.
Bonds is represented by the Shelby County Public Defender’s office, while Tillman is represented by private defense lawyer James Jones, according to court records. The public defender’s office declined to comment and efforts to reach Jones were not immediately successful.
Investigative reporter Daniel Connolly welcomes tips and comments from the public. Reach him at 529-5296, daniel.connolly@commercialappeal.com, or on Twitter at @danielconnolly.