Tennessee repeat felon charged in Rhodes College student's 2021 murder learns his fate

Yahoo

08-04-2025

A repeat felon charged in connection with a Rhodes College student's 2021 murder and home invasion pleaded guilty on Monday and received his prison sentence.
Rainess Holmes, now 40, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to serve 100% of a 20-year prison sentence, plus a combined nine years for three separate burglary cases.
Holmes, a career criminal with charges dating back to 2005, was one of four men who broke into a Memphis home housing several college students, including 22-year-old senior Andrew "Drew" Rainer, at 5:40 a.m. on Oct. 3, 2021, Shelby County court records state.
The surviving residents told Memphis police that four men with hoodies drawn over their faces kicked in their door and demanded the students' electronics.
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"Andrew Rainer was told to type in the pass code to his iPad and when he failed to do so was shot," the arrest affidavit states.
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The suspects left the home with "several phones, gaming systems, video games" and other electronics belonging to the victims, police said.
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When Memphis police arrived at the scene, they found Rainer dead with a gunshot wound at the bottom of a staircase inside the home.
One of the residents of the home was able to track his iPad's location to a hotel, where authorities were able to establish a perimeter and eventually track down Holmes, but he fled the area, "jumped a drainage ditch and escaped the area." He was briefly placed on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's Most Wanted list and was detained two days later on Oct. 5.
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The Shelby County District Attorney's Office said in a Monday statement that it "worked very closely" with Rainer's family "throughout the process."
"They were present in court and supportive of the outcome," the DA's office said.
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Holmes was not the suspect who fatally shot Rainer. Memphis police are still searching for the other three suspects involved in the home invasion and murder.
Crime Stoppers is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to any additional arrests in the case.
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"One arrest has been made relative to this homicide," Major Webb Kirkdoffer of the Memphis Police Department's Homicide Bureau said in a statement. "However, investigators still need the public's help identifying additional individuals who are responsible for Rainer's murder."
A memorial fund created in Rainer's name called "Live Like Drew" says he "loved with great intensity, and showed enormous courage and self-sacrifice." He was also an accomplished musician who played in an 80s rock band, an avid reader, an Eagle Scout, and a devoted member of the Catholic Church, according to his obituary.
"Drew was a loving son, brother, nephew, cousin and friend. He was a kind, cheerful, intelligent and outgoing young man, who was loved by his friends," his obituary said.Original article source: Tennessee repeat felon charged in Rhodes College student's 2021 murder learns his fate