Two suspects to share July 24 jury trial for Egypt’s murder

On April 14, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Wanda A. Evans said she would allow the joining of the jury trials of two suspects in the shooting death of Elizabeth (Egypt) Covington on June 22, 2017 in Van Buren Township.
Originally the three accused were each set for a separate jury trial. On April 7, Shane Lamar Evans, 34, of Sumpter Township got a plea deal and pled guilty to second-degree murder in the case and reportedly will testify against the other two.
The jury trial for Timothy Eugene Moore, 37, and Shandon R Groom, 30, both of Toledo, is set for July 24 before Judge Evans at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice.
The Wayne County prosecutors reportedly have given copies of jailhouse phone calls to the defendants’ attorneys that the prosecutors plan to use in the trial.
Evans had been charged with homicide-felony murder and home invasion-first degree. These charges were dismissed in exchange for his guilty plea and testimony against his alleged accomplices, his half-brother Timothy Moore and a cousin Shandon Groom.
They all have been in the Wayne County Jail since their arrests in late 2020.
Evans had testified at his preliminary exam at 34th District Court that he showed the two other defendants where a marijuana caregiver lived in a duplex on Hull Road in Van Buren Township and they allegedly went in the wrong door and killed Covington. Evans said he pointed out the house and the door and then left with his girlfriend.
Covington was found shot to death and bound with a string of Christmas lights. Her small dog Ruby was nearby and unharmed.
Moore is charged with first-degree premeditated murder, felony murder, home invasion-first degree, and four counts of weapons-felony firearm.
Groom is charged with felony murder, premeditated first-degree murder, home invasion–first degree, and three counts of weapons–felony firearm.