Police say the suspect was detained the night of the shooting but released until detectives built a stronger case.
LOGANVILLE, Ga. — Police arrested a 29-year-old Loganville man Monday and charged him in the Nov. 14 shooting death of CVS pharmacy technician Kimberly Whaley, ending a five-month wait in a case that rattled this east metro Atlanta city.
The arrest matters now because it moves one of Loganville’s most visible recent homicide cases out of the long investigative stage and into court, while leaving the biggest public question unanswered. Police say Evander Derrell Choates faces felony murder and other charges, but they still have not named a motive. Investigators also say Whaley and Choates did not appear to know each other, a detail that deepens the mystery around a killing that happened outside a busy pharmacy in daylight as Whaley arrived for work.
The case began on Nov. 14, when police said officers were sent at 1:55 p.m. to the CVS at 4377 Atlanta Highway after a report of a person shot in the parking lot. Whaley, 62, had been hit in the head, according to investigators, and was treated at the scene before being flown to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. She died two days later. By late afternoon, Loganville police had put out a be-on-the-lookout alert, and Lawrenceville officers stopped a vehicle tied to the case downtown and detained a person of interest that same day. But police said they did not have enough evidence to hold him. Loganville Police Chief Dick Lowry later said that decision weighed on investigators for months. “When we were forced to release him the night that this happened,” Lowry said, “none of us were happy about it.” What looked at first like a quick break in the case instead became a slow and difficult investigation that unfolded mostly out of public view.
On Monday, police said that work ended with Choates’ arrest by Gwinnett County SWAT and the filing of charges that included felony murder, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and pointing a pistol at another person. Lowry said detectives executed 24 search warrants, interviewed dozens of witnesses, reviewed hundreds of pages of records and relied on scientific testing before making the arrest. He said the effort drew help from the Walton County Sheriff’s Office, the Walton County District Attorney’s Office, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Monroe police and the U.S. Secret Service. Even with those details, key evidence remains undisclosed. Police have not publicly described what physical evidence tied Choates to the shooting, whether investigators believe he planned the attack, or why one of the charges alleges that a pistol was pointed at another person. Lowry said there were no “obvious connections” between Choates and Whaley and that investigators do not believe the two knew each other. Authorities have not said whether that points to mistaken identity, a targeted attack for unknown reasons or something else entirely.
Whaley’s death landed hard because she was not a stranger in the place where she was killed. CVS said she had worked at the Loganville store for seven years and remembered her as a beloved employee with an upbeat, caring and compassionate manner. State records identified her as a licensed pharmacy technician, and her obituary described her as someone who took pride in helping patients and spent quiet time at home with her spouse of 18 years, Owen Whaley. In the days after the shooting, customers and nearby business owners spoke about her with the kind of familiarity usually reserved for neighbors and relatives. One customer, Norma Osborne, told local television reporters she felt like crying when she learned Whaley had died. Rachel and Danny Hogsed, who own a nearby restaurant, turned their donation jar into a fundraiser for Whaley’s family. That response helped explain why the case lingered in Loganville’s public conversation long after the crime scene tape came down. The victim was part of the daily routine of the town, and the attack happened in a place many residents pass without a second thought.
The investigation also drew unusual attention because of the gap between the early detention and the eventual arrest. On Dec. 1, Lowry publicly defended the department’s limited release of information, saying the stakes were too high to risk damaging the case before detectives were ready. He said the Secret Service had joined the inquiry with technical help not available to the local department, a sign of how seriously police were treating a shooting that happened in broad daylight with no clear public explanation. For weeks, that silence frustrated residents and left Whaley’s family waiting while police repeated that they were leaving no stone unturned. Monday’s announcement gave the city the answer to who police say carried out the attack, but not to why it happened. That missing explanation still shapes the case. Police have not said whether Whaley was followed to work, whether she was selected in advance, or whether investigators uncovered any dispute, robbery attempt or personal grievance behind the killing. The central fact now is that the suspect police once released is the same man they later charged after months of additional evidence gathering.
The legal case is now moving, but only its first steps are public. Atlanta News First reported that Choates made his first appearance Monday and was denied bond. As of Tuesday, police continued to describe the investigation as open, which leaves room for more records, more witness statements and possibly more filings by prosecutors. The charges announced so far place the case in Walton County’s court system and hand the file to the district attorney for the next stage, which would typically include indictment review and the exchange of evidence required before trial. Lowry told reporters he was highly confident in the case detectives assembled and said it was ready to be handed over. Confidence, though, does not erase the questions that will matter in court. Defense lawyers will want to know what evidence was developed after the initial release, why officers could not hold the suspect in November, and what exactly prosecutors believe happened in the parking lot that afternoon. The public will also be watching for a fuller explanation of motive, if investigators say they found one.
Family members attended Monday’s police announcement and grew emotional as Lowry spoke, bringing the case back from paper records and charge sheets to the loss that first shook the city in November. Lowry himself told reporters, “I’m hoping I might be able to sleep tonight,” a remark that captured how personally he said the case had stayed with him. Around Loganville, the setting remains part of the unease. This was not an isolated road or a hidden patch of woods. It was a pharmacy parking lot on Atlanta Highway in the middle of the day, at the start of what should have been an ordinary shift for a longtime worker many customers knew by name or by face. That ordinary setting is one reason the case held its grip on the community for months. The arrest answered the most urgent question of who police accuse, but it did not restore the everyday normalcy that the shooting shattered. For Whaley’s family, coworkers and regular customers, the courtroom process now takes over where the public search for answers left off.
Choates remained in custody Tuesday on murder and related charges, and police had not publicly named a motive in Whaley’s killing. The next major marker is likely to be an indictment or another court hearing that begins to show how prosecutors plan to present the case.
Author note: Last updated April 14, 2026.