Trial date set for suspects in Drew Rainer slaying
Rainess Holmes, makes an appearance in Shelby County Criminal Court Div. 9 Judge Mark Ward's courtroom on Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. Holmes, is accused of killing a Rhodes College student Andrew "Drew" Talbot Rainer, Jr., during a home invasion. (Mark Weber/Daily Memphian file)
An Aug. 14, 2023 trial date has been set for Rainess Holmes and Lori Raquel Frye, the two suspects in the slaying of Rhodes College student Andrew “Drew” Rainer.
The trial date was set in Shelby County Criminal Court Division 9 Judge A. Melissa Boyd’s courtroom Thurs., Nov. 10, about a month after the one-year anniversary of Rainer’s death.
Rainer was killed in his home off campus on the 700 block of North McLean Boulevard during an Oct. 3, 2021, robbery. Holmes and several other men allegedly broke into the home and demanded electronic items and other valuables from Rainer, other Rhodes College students and a guest.
Rainer, 22, suffered a gunshot wound to the chest after protecting a 20-year-old woman, also a Rhodes college student, who was being threatened.
Rainer was pronounced dead on the scene. The woman survived after being sent to Regional One in non-critical condition. The three other students in the home were not injured.
The suspects took several electronics including phones, gaming systems and video games from the four men and one woman in the house.
Holmes, 37, who was arrested days after the shooting on Oct. 5, 2021, is the main suspect accused in Rainer’s slaying.
Police tracked a stolen iPad taken during the robbery to the Summer Inn hotel at 3024 Summer Ave., where Holmes had checked into a room. He ran to a drainage ditch and escaped when police arrived, but he was arrested two days later at a home on Powell Avenue in the Binghampton area.
Holmes was indicted Feb. 23 on 11 felony charges, including:
- Premeditated first-degree murder
- Murder in perpetration of a robbery
- Murder in perpetration of a burglary
- Especially aggravated robbery
- Especially aggravated burglary
- Especially aggravated kidnapping
- Four counts of aggravated robbery
- Being a convicted felon in possession of a handgun
He remains in jail and is held without bond. He is represented by attorney Eric Mogy.
Frye, Holmes’ girlfriend, was indicted Feb. 24 and then arrested March 4. Frye, 32, is indicted on three counts of facilitation to first degree murder, one count of facilitation of especially aggravated burglary, one count of facilitation of especially aggravated kidnapping, one count of facilitation of especially aggravated robbery, and four counts of facilitation of aggravated robbery.
She is held in jail on a $260,000 bond. She is represented by attorney Kenneth Brashier.
No other arrests have been made in the shooting.
The case is being handled by Chief Prosecutor Paul Hagerman and Asst. Dist. Atty. Forrest Edwards.
Topics
Andrew Rainer Lori Frye Rainess HolmesJulia Baker
A lifelong Memphian, Julia Baker graduated from the University of Memphis in 2021. Other publications and organizations she has written for include Chalkbeat, Memphis Flyer, Memphis Parent magazine and Memphis magazine.
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