Who is Elijah DeWitt's girlfriend? Bailey Reidling calls slain Georgia teen 'everybody's protector'
GWINNETT COUNTY, GEORGIA: The girlfriend of 18-year-old Elijah DeWitt, who was shot and killed as he walked out of a Dave & Buster’s at Sugarloaf Mill Mall in Lawrenceville on the night of October 5, said, “He was really everybody’s protector.”
DeWitt was out on a date with his girlfriend, Bailey Reidling, when the incident took place at the parking lot outside of the Sugarloaf Mills Mall. Two days after the incident, the South Carolina police arrested Kemare Bryan, 18, and Chandler Richardson, 19. Gwinnett Police Department said in a statement as reported by Daily Mail, “Detectives are still working to investigate the motive behind this incident, it appears that the suspects and the victim were familiar with each other and when they encountered each other in the parking lot, an altercation took place and then the shooting.” They both are charged with felony murder, malice murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of certain felonies in connection with the murder of DeWitt.
READ MORE
Commenting on the link between DeWitt and the suspects, the parents told DeWitt "was definitely not friends with Bryan and Richardson, despite earlier reports from police that the three were likely known to each other," stated the report by WSB-TV.
On the other hand, DeWitt’s sister, Delaney DeWitt, and girlfriend remember him by saying, "We’re not going to just sit around and give up.” The sister said, "Elijah wouldn’t want me to just sit around and cry. I know, that’s what Elijah would want. He would want us to keep our heads up and just come together as people," and added, "He’s just going to be in the back of my brain, saying, ‘You got this. Keep going, give 100 percent." Reidling said DeWitt was a protector in his family. She said, "I just want everybody to know that he was just very kind and gentle at heart. He was really everybody’s protector. I love how you protected Delaney. And that’s why I thought a lot of him.”
Reidling and DeWitt had been in relationship for more than two years. She recalled his intelligence, telling that many didn't know that he was a "very soft" person deep inside. She said that he "loved everyone,” reports 11alive.