Justice for Dre: Family of late Clemson WR opens up on his legacy, ongoing case
The way Sandra Grace sees it, she and her family already have a life sentence. Now, she’s pushing for the man accused of murdering her son to get the same thing.
Grace said her family’s life sentence started 16 months ago when detectives showed up at her front door early on the morning of Sept. 7, 2024, and told her that her son, former Clemson football player Diondre Overton, had been shot and killed overnight at a house party in Greensboro, North Carolina. He was 26 years old.
Life, since then, has been an emotional blur. But those closest to Overton — a wide receiver nicknamed “Big Play Dre” who won two national championships with the Tigers — have established a foundation in his name to raise awareness about gun violence and support at-risk youth in the Greensboro area.
As the first-degree murder trial for his alleged killer, Jeremiah Blanks of Detroit, progresses in the local court system, Overton’s family is also publicly pushing for what they see as the only way to truly deliver justice for Overton:
Sentencing Blanks, 22, to life in prison without parole.
“We have a life sentence,” Grace, Overton’s mother, told The State. “I’ll never see Dre again. I’ll never have a conversation with him again. … And if you have the disregard for life that you will take somebody’s life, knowing that they can’t come back, then I think you should serve the rest of your life in prison as well.”
The night of the shooting: ‘It was just a blur’
On the night Overton was shot and killed, Grace remembers her son coming home from work in high spirits. Overton and his brother had bought a house in August, and the furniture they ordered had finally shipped.
The family rented a U-Haul and planned to move items into the new house the next morning. Grace said her son was his usual self that night in Greensboro — smiling, laughing, goofy — and loaded his belongings into the truck.
Around 11:30 p.m., Overton left for a party a friend had invited him to.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, mom,” he said. “I’m going to hang out.”
It was the last conversation they had.
According to a Guilford County Sheriff’s Office news release, deputies got a call around 2:30 a.m. that night regarding a loud party at a residential address.
On their drive over, they received another call: Shots fired. Upon arrival, deputies located the shooting victim and identified him as Overton. Despite “immediate medical aid,” Overton was pronounced dead at the scene around 3 a.m.
A report by the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, obtained by The State, ruled that Overton died of a gunshot wound to the chest. Deputies found a shell casing that matched a .45-caliber handgun bullet at the scene, the report said.
Roughly a month after Overton was shot and killed, the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office extradited Blanks from Michigan and arrested him on one charge of felony first-degree murder. A grand jury formally indicted Blanks in December 2024.
Blanks was 20 years old at the time he allegedly shot and killed Overton at the party, which occurred at a house that was being rented out as an Airbnb. The owner of the Greensboro home wasn’t aware that the Airbnb renter was using the home to host a party that night, according to the sheriff’s office.
Grace said her doorbell rang around 7 a.m. the next morning. Detectives asked her and her husband, Bryan Hill, Overton’s stepfather, to sit down for the news.
“They were like, ‘I’m sorry to tell you there was a party …’” she said. “As soon as he said party, I knew it was Dre. As soon as he said it. And it was just a blur from there.”
Overton more than a football player, family says
Sixteen months after Overton’s death, “our lives have been turned completely upside down,” Overton’s girlfriend, Autumn Scott, told The State.
Scott, a Clemson graduate, said she’s battled depression since her boyfriend’s death. She and Grace, Overton’s mom, often refer to Overton in the present tense and prefer it that way — talking about “Dre” in the past tense is still too raw.
The toughest part about her son’s death, Grace said, is the intentionality of it: The fact that Overton was not killed by a stray bullet or a car accident but rather, police say, by a targeted gunshot .
Grace described her son as a responsible person who showed up on time and showed up for others. He was serious about his family and his faith in God. Outside of that, she said, he was a big jokester with a big smile, someone who just wanted to “laugh and be goofy and play” and never wanted to argue.
In limited public information released about the incident, detectives have said they don’t believe Blanks (the alleged shooter) and Overton knew each other before the party. A fight broke out in the backyard before the shooting, records show, but it’s unclear who was involved. Police found Overton’s body in the living room.
The incident has baffled her family, Grace said.
“I think everybody has the same consensus,” she said. “What could he have done that made anybody so angry that they would have pulled out a gun to harm him?”
As part of Blanks’ ongoing murder trial, Overton’s family has collected victim impact statements from former teammates, coaches and friends, including Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, who coached Overton from 2016-19.
Reviewing those letters has been a tough yet rewarding experience, Scott said, because they help paint a picture of the former Clemson wide receiver’s true impact on others — lots of which his family wasn’t even aware of. Multiple friends and teammates said Overton supported them through mental health struggles. One friend wrote that Overton had talked him out of a suicide attempt.
“If he could be an octopus with eight legs, I promise you, he’d be stretched across the world in every time zone, trying to be there for everybody,” Scott said.
“He wasn’t an ordinary person. ... I have heard on three occasions from grown men who said, ‘I’ve never seen or known of a person who is perfect, but Dre was damn near it,’” Page said. “And that speaks volumes.”
Family is adamant: No plea bargain for alleged shooter
While Overton’s family grieves — and pours into the newly established Diondre Overton Hustle & Heart Foundation, which has hosted such events as a field day and a toy drive — Blanks’ trial is moving along in local court.
The Guilford County District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the case on behalf of the state of North Carolina and Overton’s family. Blanks, now 22, is currently being held without release in a Greensboro-area detention center and being represented by a local criminal defense attorney, Alec Carpenter, records show.
Blanks faces one charge of first-degree murder, which is a Class A felony in North Carolina and carries a maximum punishment of life in prison without parole. Although the vast majority of U.S. criminal cases end in a plea bargain instead of going to trial, Grace said Overton’s family is adamant that does not happen.
“There’s no bringing Dre’s life back,” she said. “If you’re 20 and you already have the disregard for human life, I don’t think there’s rehabilitation available for you. … Life in prison without the possibility of parole is exactly what all of us want.”
Guilford County assistant district attorney Steve Cole is the lead prosecutor on the Blanks case. He told The State that members of his office consider themselves to be “victims’ advocates.” But, Cole said, the charge of a district attorney in a murder case is to balance a family’s desired outcome or result with the merits of the case.
“It’s paramount to keep our communication lines open and for families to understand that their desires are heard,” Cole said. “But, ultimately, this is evidence-driven. … We do our best to lean on our collective experience (as an office) to determine what the best course of action is.”
Carpenter, Blanks’ lawyer, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Blanks had no prior criminal record, so a plea deal would likely involve him pleading guilty to a lesser charge, such as a second-degree murder, and a prison sentence of an undetermined length (as opposed to life in prison). For this specific case, Cole added, he’s already informed the lead Guilford County district attorney that Overton’s family is strongly against Blanks being offered a plea deal.
“If I were in Mrs. Grace’s position, I’d be in the same place,” Cole said.
Blanks has not formally pled guilty or not guilty to the first-degree murder charge, although that action could come during his next court date on Jan. 20.
If the district attorney’s office decides not to offer Blanks a plea bargain — or if the two sides cannot come to an agreement on terms of a plea bargain — Blanks’ case would go to trial and likely start at some point this calendar year.
Grace said her family wants justice for “Dre” and is willing to wait for it.
“He had a right to live,” she said of her son. “He did exactly what he was taught to do, and that was to not bother anybody. ... And even that wasn’t good enough.”
