Mother honors ‘very loving’ daughter whose body was found behind shopping center

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HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — In her first talk with the media, the mother of a woman found murdered behind a Stockbridge shopping plaza revealed her daughter worked with one of the suspects.

Marie Elien held a small press conference inside her Henry County home Friday evening, just a few days after the discovery of her daughter’s body.

Mirsha Victor was just 23 years old.

Police arrested three suspects: Dennis Lane, Ronisha Preckwinkle and Cleounsee Fisher, and charged all of them with murder.

“It’s just day after day,” said Elien. “We’re just trying to hold on. It’s unbelievable. The pain is unbearable. It’s unbearable.”

During the press conference, Elien revealed that Mirsha worked with one of them — 41-year-old Dennis Lane.

They worked together at a food processing facility, and Elien believes their relationship did not go beyond the workplace.

“Just work relationship … they’ve been friends that I can be aware of,” said Elien.

After her daughter vanished on July 8, Elien helped lead police to Lane. After he called her daughter’s phone, Elien told us she answered and Lane asked her to meet up.

Henry County police went along, and arrested Lane.

Elien says she just wants to know why her daughter was killed.

“That’s been probably my main question. Why?,” asked Elien.

Elien told Channel 2′s Justin Wilfon that in her last conversation with her daughter, Mirsha shared concerns about her workplace, but Elien did not want to elaborate.

Channel 2 Action News also learned that Lane was convicted of raping a 10-year-old girl in Illinois, but recently moved to Georgia after being released from prison.

“I don’t think it was only Mirsha,” said Elien. “It could have been any other young woman, any other girls. Innocent, young girls.”

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Another woman’s body was found near Mirsha’s in the same woods in Stockbridge. She has yet to be identified.

Elien says Mirsha was studying at Georgia State, a young woman with big dreams that will never be realized.

“A life that ended too soon,” said Elien. “Too soon for no reason.”

The family has set up a GoFundMe account to help pay for Mirsha’s funeral expenses. If you would like to help, click here.

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