Ex-Miss America Contestant's Husband Shot Dead By Nigger in Front of Toddler While 'Evangelizing'

A competitive bodybuilder married to a one-time Miss America 
contestant was gunned down in front of the couple’s toddler 
while proselytizing, according to authorities and a close friend 
of the victim.

Thomas Hand Jr., the 37-year-old husband of former Miss 
Mississippi Christine Kozlowski Hand, 33, was “shot to death…in 
the presence of the victim’s two year old child,” states a 
criminal affidavit obtained by The Daily Beast. The shooting 
occurred Saturday afternoon on a street in Montgomery, Alabama, 
and Hand was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:37 p.m. by a 
doctor from Jackson Hospital, it states.

Jerimiah Walker, 17, was arrested and charged with capital 
murder in the presence of a child under the age of 14, according 
to the filing, which says the incident occurred just steps from 
Walker’s home. Walker is being held without bond at the 
Montgomery County jail. Police have not publicly revealed a 
possible motive for the crime.

“He was independently evangelizing door-to-door and he had 
recently moved to Montgomery…to start his new life with his wife 
and kids,” Hand’s longtime friend Luke Lemus told The Daily 
Beast on Wednesday.

Hand, who was originally from Louisiana and ran a company that 
sold nutritional supplements, discovered religion a few years 
back. He and his wife often spent Saturdays spreading the gospel 
throughout low income areas, according to friends. Kozlowski 
Hand is pregnant with the couple’s second child, who is due in 
August.

Lemus, 48, who trained with Hand, said he was too broken up to 
go into too much detail about Hand’s death.

“I’m kind of heartbroken right now,” said Lemus. “It’s hard…it’s 
hard for the family.”

Capt. Saba Coleman, a spokeswoman for the Montgomery Police 
Department, told The Daily Beast that “there’s no additional 
information available for release regarding this ongoing 
investigation.”

Hand and Kozlowski met at the gym, according to the Daily Mail, 
which said the pair had just celebrated their sixth wedding 
anniversary. Kozlowski Hand described the shooting to the Mail 
as “a complete random act of violence.”

In 2014, Kozlowski became internet-famous when her then-
boyfriend proposed at a One Direction concert. The couple, who 
met on Tinder, divorced within a year.

In a Facebook post on Sunday, in which she confirmed her 
husband’s death, Kozlowski Hand added a note to “all of his 
loyal and cherished customers at Hand Nutrition,” assuring them 
that “the company will continue to serve you guys and we ask 
that you stick with us as this will be our only means of support 
for our son and baby to be. We need your support now more than 
ever. We love you guys, the company will relocate to my hometown 
of Biloxi, Mississippi. The weekend orders will ship on Monday 
as usual.”

Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl D. Bailey and Deputy 
District Attorney Michael Scott Green, who are prosecuting the 
case, did not respond to a request for comment. Walker does not 
have a lawyer listed in court records.

In an interview with local NBC affiliate WFSA, Bailey suggested 
he was losing patience with Mongomery’s soaring crime rate, 
saying, “We’ve got to start sending messages that this behavior 
is not tolerated.”

A GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the Hands’ children has 
so far raised nearly $30,000.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ex-miss-america-contestant-
christine-kozlowskis-husband-shot-dead-in-front-of-toddler-while-
evangelizing