Lena Nicole Marshall devoted over ten years of her life to law enforcement. On Monday, that devotion came back to her as hundreds of fellow officers joined her family and friends in paying tribute to the slain deputy.
“She loved her job,” said Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum. “She gave it all she had all the time. She didn’t back down from anything. She loved her shifts. She loved all of her brothers and sisters in blue.”
Marshall, who previously worked for the Winder and Helen police departments and the Barrow and Habersham County sheriff’s offices, died on November 8, eighteen years to the day that her 6-year-old son Austin died. She leaves behind her other son Colten and daughters Kiley and Chelsea. They listened as Sheriff Mangum and friends eulogized their mother, remembering her as a free spirit who was hard and intimidating, but also soft and caring.
“I’ll be grateful for her friendship for the rest of my life,” said Lauren Stephens. “I called her my ‘no matter what.’ She never judged, no matter what.”
Stephens was one of the last people to communicate with Deputy Marshall before she was fatally wounded on the night of November 5.
Around 9:20 that evening, Marshall and Deputy Zac Billings, whom she was training, responded to a residence at 6416 GA Highway 124 in Hoschton. The homeowners wanted a non-resident removed. The officers made contact with a woman at the front door who, investigators say, pulled a gun on them. Refusing their commands to drop the weapon, the woman opened fire fatally wounding Marshall. Billings returned fire and killed the suspect who was later identified as 43-year-old Jessica Worsham.
In a text just moments before Marshall responded to that call, Stephens said she wrote, “‘I love you. Be safe.'” Marshall texted back, “Love you too. Always.”
Governor Brian Kemp and his wife, Marty, were among those who attended the service at Free Chapel Church in Braselton. It was the second law enforcement funeral in Georgia in two days. On Sunday, Henry County police memorialized one of their officers who was shot in the line of duty on November 4. Officer Paramhans Desai and Deputy Marshall died within hours of each other.
Marshall’s service, which began with a nearly 16-mile long procession from the funeral home to the chapel, ended with a formal flag presentation, fifteen-gun salute, ‘missing man’ helicopter formation, Taps, and End of Watch call. A bagpiper led the procession as the crowd filed out of the church following the service.
For all the tributes paid to Deputy Marshall this day, perhaps none resonated more profoundly than that of a woman who Marshall arrested last year. Sheriff Mangum read a letter the woman wrote in which she described a conversation she had with Marshall in the patrol car as the deputy was taking her to jail. They talked about raising children and the woman’s abusive marriage. She said Marshall gave her advice that helped her turn things around.
Mangum relayed that, today, that woman is living in her own home peacefully with her children and is gainfully employed. Of Deputy Marshall, she wrote, “That woman saved my life.”
