After an early-morning argument, Miguel Lindsey Floyd beat and strangled his girlfriend until she was lifeless, according to investigators. Then, Floyd wrapped Ericka Stewart’s body in a blanket and put it inside a car.
On Thursday, Floyd pleaded guilty to Stewart’s May 2019 murder, according to the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office. The 27-year-old New Orleans man was then sentenced to life in prison, where he must serve 30 years before being eligible for parole.
“The District Attorney’s Office and our major crimes team are committed to the fight against violent domestic abusers,” Deputy Chief ADA Jesse Evans said in an emailed statement. “Ericka was a graduate of Kennesaw State University, and a remarkable young woman. She was a daughter, sister, niece, mother — and she deserved better than this.”
On May 28, 2019, Floyd panicked after killing 36-year-old Stewart and tried to hide her body after he strangled, according to prosecutors. He dragged her body down the concrete steps outside her upper-floor apartment to her 2005 Nisan Altima and attempted to leave the Favor Road complex with her body, according to investigators.
When the car quickly ran out of gas, Floyd ran and later returned to New Orleans, where he pawned Stewart’s cellphone. U.S. marshals arrested him several days after Stewart’s death and he was returned to Georgia.
Floyd has been held in the Cobb jail since June 25, 2019, booking records show. Two months later, a grand jury indicted him on one count each of malice murder, felony murder, battery, aggravated assault and concealing the death of another.
During Thursday’s hearing, Stewart’s mother addressed the court. Carolyn Hall now cares for her three grandsons.
“She will always live on through me and her boys,” Hall said.
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