Man charged in murder of father's ex-girlfriend after she dropped off kids at school

Teen charged in murder of mom killed after dropping kids off at school

A 19-year-old is facing murder charges for the shooting death of his father's ex-girlfriend after she dropped her two kids off at school in Detroit.

DETROIT (FOX 2) - A 19-year-old from Wixom has been charged in the murder of Detroit mother Andrea Tucker Nov. 17 after she returned home from dropping her children at school.

Jarren Cox was charged with first-degree murder by the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office as well as witness intimidation and gun charges, it was announced Friday.

Investigators say Cox killed Tucker in the driveway of her east-side Detroit home. His father, David Hammond, 45, was ordered earlier this month to stand trial on charges of arson, felonious assault, domestic violence and home invasion against Tucker, his ex-girlfriend.

Andrea Tucker's Detroit home where she was fatally shot in the driveway Nov. 17.

Hammond was arrested last week after being wanted for questioning in her slaying.

On Monday, DPD announced it had arrested a second person in connection to the murder.

"As she pulled into her driveway, she was approached by a suspect, from behind by a suspect, and shot to death in her driveway," said Detroit Police Chief James White at the time.

After her murder, Detroit Police were able to track Hammond to a Toledo motel before he eventually returned and was arrested with $14,000 in cash.

Jarren Cox

Hammonds' attorney, David Steingold, said his client left the state for a valid reason.

"My client took off until he could gather his thoughts, call me, get the money that he thought he might need if he was charged with murder because we didn't know what the situation was," Steingold said.

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Hammond has been out on personal bond since 2020 when he was first charged with four felonies in the domestic violence case.

Just days before Tucker's death, she said that Hammond was stalking her and even put a GPS tracker on her boyfriend's car and she filed a police report. That was five days before she was killed.

Steingold said Hammond has a solid alibi as he was in a virtual court hearing on those 2020 charges.