Isabella Mary Alexandria Stroupe, 19, was found dead May 1 inside an east Charlotte apartment.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Isabella Mary Alexandria Stroupe was remembered by relatives as a young woman who loved books and fan fiction after police said her boyfriend was charged in her death.
Stroupe, 19, was found dead May 1 on Yateswood Drive in east Charlotte. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said Thomaz Kenon Hamilton, 24, was arrested four days later and charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape. The case has drawn attention because court records described by investigators say Stroupe had been bound, stabbed and injured over time before the medical examiner ruled her death a homicide.
In the days after the arrest, Stroupe’s relatives gave the public a fuller view of the person behind the police report. Her sister, Marleigh Bailey, wrote that Stroupe was a “total bookworm” who was often reading and sharing favorite stories. Bailey said Stroupe loved fan fiction and My Little Pony, and that her creativity brought joy to the family. The family also said it had been unprepared for the cost of burial and a memorial service. “We never imagined we would be facing such a heartbreaking situation,” Bailey wrote. Those words became part of the public record around a case otherwise told through a brief police release, a court affidavit and a medical examiner’s ruling.
The official account began before sunrise May 1, when officers, Charlotte Fire and MEDIC were sent to the 6600 block of Yateswood Drive for an unresponsive woman. Police said first responders found Stroupe inside the apartment and pronounced her dead at the scene. Homicide detectives and Crime Scene Search personnel then took over the investigation. Police said the manner of death was ruled a homicide days later after consultation with the Mecklenburg County Medical Examiner’s Office. That ruling shifted the case from a death investigation into a criminal case. Detectives then identified Hamilton as a suspect, obtained warrants and sent the Violent Criminal Apprehension Team to arrest him May 5.
Court records described by investigators say Hamilton first contacted police from a nearby QuikTrip in the Hickory Grove neighborhood and said his girlfriend had stopped breathing at the apartment. Police said he later told detectives that Stroupe had suffered a heart attack during sex. The medical findings did not support that account, according to the affidavit. Investigators said Stroupe had multiple fractured bones and stab wounds. Records described by police also said she had been tied to a bed with tow straps and had minimal clothing when officers found her. The affidavit said investigators believed she had been tortured for several months and was physically unable to consent to sex. Police have not released the full medical report.
The search of the apartment became a key part of the case. Investigators said they found a bloodied knife wrapped in cellophane, a baseball bat and a sword. They also reported a bloodied mattress and bloodied clothing. Some accounts of the affidavit also described broken phones inside the apartment. Police have not said whether forensic testing had been completed on those items or whether any of the weapons had been matched to specific injuries. The department has also not released a detailed account of Stroupe’s last known movements before May 1. Those gaps remain part of the active investigation, which police said would continue as more information developed.
Hamilton’s arrest took place May 5, the same day police publicly announced the homicide investigation. CMPD said its Violent Criminal Apprehension Team located him and arrested him without incident. He was taken to the Law Enforcement Center for an interview with homicide detectives and then transferred to the custody of the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office. Police said he was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape. He was later listed as being held without bond at the Mecklenburg County Jail. The next court date reported in the case was May 27. No public court filing described in reports showed that Hamilton had entered a plea, and it was not clear from the available record whether an attorney had spoken for him.
The Yateswood Drive apartment sits in the Hickory Grove Division, an east Charlotte patrol area that includes residential streets, apartment communities and commercial roads near Albemarle Road. Police did not identify the apartment complex by name in their release, but they tied the case to the 6600 block of Yateswood Drive. The department also said Stroupe’s next of kin had been notified after both the death and the arrest. The brief wording left many details unanswered, including when the alleged abuse began, whether anyone else saw Stroupe in the weeks before her death, and whether prior police or medical records will become evidence. Prosecutors will decide how much of that record becomes part of the public case.
For Stroupe’s family, the official case now runs alongside grief. Bailey wrote that losing her sister left “a huge hole” in the family’s lives. Her post focused on a farewell, not the charges, and on the difficulty of planning a memorial for a 19-year-old. The contrast between that family portrait and the police description of the apartment has shaped the public response to the case. Hamilton remains accused, not convicted, and the allegations will have to be tested in court. Police, meanwhile, have described the investigation as active and ongoing, with homicide detectives still assigned to the case.
Hamilton’s next known court date was May 27, when the case was expected to continue in Mecklenburg County court. As of May 26, no additional suspect had been announced.
Author note: Last updated May 26, 2026.