In the late afternoon of March 6, 2016, Tabitha Hale sat astride her horse at her mother’s home in Lula, Georgia, looking forward to a leisurely ride. Less than 30 minutes later, Tabitha was lying “face down in the gravel” with a fractured skull.
Tabitha recalled visiting her mother, Kim Smith, with her husband, Jacob, and their four boys, then aged between 2 and 14. Jacob set off home with the boys; Tabitha, a novice horse rider, stayed behind to go riding with her mom.
