Death of Tamla Horsford

On November 4, 2018, Tamla Horsford was discovered dead in the backyard of the Cumming, Georgia, home where she had been attending a slumber party with other "football moms" the night before. The 40-year-old was a mother of five.

The Forsyth County Sheriff department initially ruled the death an accident, stating that the "multiple blunt force injuries" were related to Horsford likely falling from the balcony due to "acute ethanol intoxication". A second autopsy requested by her family revealed further abrasions to her body. The family's attorney also stated that lack of evidence, types of injuries discovered, and mismatched witness accounts strongly suggested homicide. On February 20, 2019, Major Joe Perkins of the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office announced that the case would be closed and that there was no evidence of foul play.

The relationship between Horsford's race and her death has been a subject of controversy and debate and a race-based dimension to her death has been implied by family and media. While the official investigation concluded that her death was accidental and not racially motivated, some have argued that her race played a role in the events leading up to her death and in the investigation that followed.

The case did not receive public recognition until two months after her death, when one of the witnesses was fired from his county court officer job for internally accessing the incident report. The case, along with the hashtag #tamlahorsford, quickly spread around the internet, along with suspicion of foul play. In the summer of 2020, the nationwide protests against racism and police brutality sparked by the murder of George Floyd renewed public interest and advocacy of the case. Under the pressure of public outcry, including posts from celebrities such as T.I. and 50 Cent, the Forsyth County Sheriff requested that the case be reopened and investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.