Macon boyfriend on trial in girlfriend's 2014 death claims he acted in self-defense

Ali Lamont Tanner revisited the dumpster where he'd dumped his girlfriend's body several times before turning himself in to police, confessing that he'd stabbed her to death.

It was on his last visit, on the morning of Dec. 2, three days after Shauntrice Michele Williams' death, that he discovered the trash bin behind Macon's Discovery Inn on Chambers Road had been emptied, he told police. He turned himself in later that day.

"I've got to turn myself in now. I want them to find her," he decided.

Tanner, 39, was subsequently charged with murder and family violence-related aggravated assault. His trial began Monday in Bibb County Superior Court.

In opening statements Tuesday, Tanner's lawyer told jurors that Tanner maintains he stabbed the 27-year-old Williams in self-defense.

During a Nov. 29 argument in their motel room, she grabbed a black kitchen knife and the two struggled, resulting in Williams' stabbing, defense lawyer Mark Beberman said.

Beberman said Williams had stabbed Tanner in a prior incident, puncturing his lung and causing him to have surgery.

Not wanting Williams to be prosecuted, Tanner lied and said someone else had stabbed him, Beberman said.

The lawyer admitted his client made a number of bad choices after Williams died.

"He was scared and confused," Beberman said. "He was in shock about what he'd done."

Prosecutor Jonathan Adams disputed Tanner's self-defense claim in his statement to jurors.

Adams described Tanner as a controlling man and said the couple argued when Williams told Tanner he couldn't control her.

He said Tanner grabbed the knife -- one they'd been using to cut up apples for Williams' 3-year-old son -- and stabbed her once in the chest as her son slept.

Williams had undergone treatment the previous day for a broken pinky finger she injured punching a mirror after arguing with Tanner. Her hand was bandaged and in a sling, Adams said.

She was lying in bed during the argument and when she was stabbed, he said. Her son was sleeping nearby.

In his statements to police, Tanner described the stabbing and how he disposed of Williams' body.

After binding her hands and body, he formed Williams into a ball and wrapped her in a motel comforter. Then he stuffed her into a laundry bag and carried her to the dumpster outside, Adams said.

Every child grows up imagining a monster is under their bed or in the closet, Adams said.

Williams' son didn't have to use his imagination, the prosecutor said.

"That monster killed his mother."

'I KILLED SOMEBODY'

Jurors watched a video of Tanner's statement to police Tuesday morning.

Sitting in an interrogation room, Tanner waived his rights to an attorney and to remain silent before admitting, "I killed somebody."

He told detectives that he and Williams had been dating about six months.

Tanner said the couple had argued continually during their relationship. She'd lost a baby. He'd lost his job, his car and their home.

He admitted having a problem with anger, but he said he didn't mean to kill Williams.

"I'm sorry," he said.

Tanner said he'd gone to the nearby Wal-Mart about 5:30 p.m. Nov. 29 with Williams and her son. They'd bought candy and potato chips.

After returning to the motel room, the boy fell asleep on one of the double beds. Tanner and Williams lounged on the other.

"It just happened," he said of the stabbing that ended an argument.

Tanner said he covered Williams' body with a blanket and woke her son about 15 minutes after the stabbing. He took the boy to his grandmother's house, saying he didn't know where to find Williams.

Then, he returned to the motel and disposed of her body.

Bibb County sheriff's Sgt. Shelley Rutherford testified that deputies searched through about two tons of trash at a Warner Robins waste facility before going to the Taylor County landfill Dec. 3, where Williams' body was found.

Deputies also found the knife near the motel dumpster, just as Tanner had described to police.

In talking with deputies, Tanner didn't say his argument with Williams turned physical before the stabbing, Rutherford said.

Jurors were shown photos Tuesday afternoon from the landfill search.

Photos showed bloody sheets and a mattress cover. Nearby, deputies found a laundry bag matching the description Tanner gave.

The pictures documented authorities' discovery of a comforter inside the bag, tied into a ball.

After opening the comforter, deputies found Williams' crumpled body.

Williams' mother testified Tuesday that in the days leading up Thanksgiving, her daughter told her that Tanner had threatened to kill her because he thought she was cheating on him.

Testimony is set to continue Wednesday.

To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398 or find her on Twitter@awomackmacon.

This story was originally published November 3, 2015 at 6:16 PM with the headline "Macon boyfriend on trial in girlfriend's 2014 death claims he acted in self-defense ."