AUGUSTA, Ga. — An Augusta man has been sentenced to life in prison plus 75 years after being convicted of the brutal murder of his girlfriend, Laquana Lang, whose young daughters were left alone in the home with her body.
Davante Parks, 27, was found guilty on all counts Thursday in a Richmond County courtroom. The verdict came after less than an hour of jury deliberation. Senior Superior Court Judge Daniel Craig handed down the maximum sentence, condemning Parks to a lifetime behind bars without the possibility of parole, followed by an additional 75 years for related charges.
The killing occurred in September 2023, at Laquana Lang’s home on Hines Street in the Allen Homes subdivision. Prosecutors said Parks shot and killed Lang, also 27, while her two daughters — just 5 and 2 years old — were upstairs in the home.
Authorities revealed that the girls remained in the house with their mother’s body for at least four hours. In a horrifying turn of events, the children were forced to walk through their mother’s blood and crawl over her lifeless body in order to reach a neighbor and seek help. The scene left first responders shaken and the community horrified.
The Augusta District Attorney’s Office described the crime as especially cold and cruel, emphasizing the emotional trauma inflicted on the children who survived the ordeal. Parks, a parolee at the time of the killing, had only recently begun a relationship with Lang.
“This was a senseless act of violence that not only took a mother’s life but left two innocent children to face a scene no one should ever witness, let alone endure alone,” the District Attorney’s Office said in a statement following the sentencing.
Parks’ conviction and sentencing bring some measure of justice for Lang’s family, who have spent the past year grieving the loss of a vibrant young woman and trying to help her daughters heal from the trauma.
Laquana Lang is remembered as a loving mother, daughter, and friend—someone who brought warmth to everyone she met. Her untimely death has sent ripples through the Augusta community and served as a tragic reminder of the devastating impact of domestic violence.
With Parks now behind bars for life, authorities and advocates continue to call for greater awareness and support for victims of domestic abuse, so that tragedies like this one might one day be prevented.
