After nearly 2 years, Indianapolis sisters charged in nightclub murder of love rival to be sentenced

Two Indianapolis sisters will be convicted this week over the fatal 2022 shooting of a woman following an altercation at a nightclub. Per FOX 59, one of the sisters, identified as Ebonie Parks, got into an altercation with Secoya Williams after she took issue with the attention that her boyfriend was showing to the victim, investigators said.

Williams had gone to the nightclub to support Parks’ boyfriend as he was performing as a rapper. But after Parks took issue with what was transpiring between her boyfriend and Williams, she called her sister Arieal Smith and made her come to the nightclub with a gun, authorities said.

The altercation initially started inside the nightclub after Smith threw a drink in Williams’ face. Smith is said to have later shot and killed Williams outside the establishment on February 25, 2022. Smith could be sentenced to 45-60 years in prison for murder while Parks could spend 1-3 years in prison for assisting, FOX 59 reported.

“All the evidence was shown,” Williams’ mother, Marilyn Johnson, said. “I had to sit there and look at pictures of my daughter in a way that I would never want to see her, and I had to sit there and just look at them.

“At the end, nobody won in that situation. Their family didn’t win. My family didn’t win. We lost Secoya, but they also got daughters that’s gotta go to jail and face the consequences for that. I was just like, ‘Wow, this was sad.’ It was senseless, and I just looked at them like, ‘You don’t know what you’ve done.’”

Johnson also said that not everyone will be pleased with the outcome of what has since occurred, though the sisters are going to serve time for her daughter’s murder. 

“I want them to know that I don’t hate them or anything like that,” Johnson said. “I’m getting justice because I’m going to a sentencing. I’m getting justice, per se, but there are many others, thousands of cold cases that are still closed, there’s thousands of parents waiting for justice. May never get it.”

Johnson also expressed her gratitude to prosecutors and police for their assistance during the investigation as well as the trial. “And I worked with them, and if I had a question, I emailed and they were prefect, they were awesome, and they stuck by us as well as we stuck by them,” she said.

“Some people do give up. I was told a lot of people don’t even show back up. They’d be like, ‘Forget it, we’re not even gonna get justice.’ I tell any parent, never give up, no matter, your day will come as far as getting justice for your loved one.”