The 74-year-old Memphis resident was buried in September as police continued investigating the stabbing that led to her daughter’s arrest.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Jannie Mae Green was born in the Mississippi Delta in 1952, later made her home in Memphis and was remembered at funeral services in September, weeks after her death became the center of a first-degree murder case against her daughter.
Green, 74, died Aug. 18 after Memphis police found her with multiple stab wounds inside a home in the 600 block of Bethel Avenue, according to local reporting based on a police affidavit. Her daughter, Tiffany Lafay Green Barber, 43, is charged with first-degree murder and tampering with or fabricating evidence. Police say Barber arrived at a North Main Street police station while officers and emergency personnel were still at Green’s home, told authorities she had stabbed someone and later said during an interview that she had stabbed her mother. The allegations have not been adjudicated, and no verified later court outcome was found in the sources reviewed.
Green’s obituary provides some of the few publicly available details about her life apart from the homicide investigation. It lists her birth date as March 23, 1952, and says she was born in Drew, Mississippi, a small Delta community southwest of Clarksdale. She later resided in Memphis. Services were arranged for Sept. 4 and Sept. 5, with visitation at M.J. Edwards Funeral Home Stage Road Chapel, a celebration of life at a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Memphis and a committal service at Pleasant Rest Memorial Gardens in Millington. The obituary does not discuss the criminal case or offer a detailed biography.
That limited record stands in contrast to the highly specific allegations released about the final night of Green’s life. Police responded to the Bethel Avenue home after a disturbance call. Action News 5 reported, citing an affidavit, that officers arrived around 11 p.m. and found Green sitting in a chair with multiple stab wounds. Memphis Fire Department personnel attempted to save her, but she was pronounced dead at the scene. The available reporting does not identify who made the disturbance call or describe what the caller said had happened before officers arrived.
While Green remained at the center of an active crime scene, police say Barber appeared at the station on North Main Street. According to investigators, she had blood on her clothing and told officers she had stabbed someone at a residence in the 600 block of Bethel Avenue. Officers took her into custody. During a later interview, police say Barber stated that she had stabbed her mother and left the house afterward. Those statements are described in police accounts and news reports; the reviewed material does not contain a defense filing addressing them or establish whether Barber contests their wording, circumstances or admissibility.
Investigators say Barber also described what happened to the weapon. She allegedly told detectives that she placed it in an alley behind Bethel Avenue after leaving the home. Action News 5 reported that police went to the location she identified and found the suspected weapon. That discovery became relevant not only to the homicide investigation but also to the separate evidence-tampering charge filed against Barber. The reviewed reports do not disclose detailed forensic findings concerning the recovered object, including whether testing detected Green’s DNA, Barber’s fingerprints or other evidence that could later be introduced in court.
Police have said little publicly about what preceded the stabbing. No motive is identified in the available reports. There is no verified account of an argument between mother and daughter that night, no public description of a dispute in the hours before Green died and no documented explanation for why Barber was at the residence. The sources reviewed also do not establish whether the two women lived together. Those omissions are important because they keep the public record focused on what authorities say happened after the violence rather than on an explanation for why it began.
Even the exact calendar date became muddled in early reporting. Law&Crime described the incident as occurring on “Tuesday, Aug. 17,” but Aug. 17, 2026, was a Monday. Memphis coverage published Aug. 19 said the killing occurred Tuesday, which was Aug. 18, and Green’s obituary also lists Aug. 18 as her date of death. The local chronology and obituary therefore provide stronger support for Aug. 18. The correction matters because a homicide timeline should be precise, even though the difference does not change the police account of Green’s death or Barber’s surrender.
Barber’s booking records place her in Shelby County custody on Aug. 18 and identify the two charges later reported by police. Early coverage reflected an evolving custody picture. WREG initially reported that no bond had yet been set and that Barber was due in court the following morning. Law&Crime, in a report published Aug. 21, said she was being held without bond and was next expected in court Aug. 25. The sources reviewed for this article did not provide a trustworthy account of what occurred at the Aug. 25 proceeding or document a later hearing, plea or final bond ruling.
The lack of a current verified court record means the legal posture should not be overstated. A first-degree murder charge is an accusation that prosecutors must prove; it is not a finding that Barber committed the offense. The evidence-tampering charge is likewise unproven. Public reporting does not identify an attorney speaking for Barber, describe a defense position or show that a judge or jury has ruled on the disputed facts. Police statements about Barber’s alleged admissions and the weapon recovery may be important evidence, but their legal significance ultimately depends on what prosecutors can establish in court and what challenges the defense may raise.
Green’s death also leaves a family dimension that the available sources do not fully describe. News accounts identify Barber as Green’s daughter, but they do not provide a broader portrait of the family, statements from other relatives or information about how Green and Barber interacted before the fatal encounter. Green’s obituary confirms funeral arrangements but does not publicly address the allegations against Barber. Avoiding assumptions about their relationship is especially important because investigators themselves have not announced a motive or released a narrative explaining the events that led up to the disturbance call.
What can be reconstructed is the aftermath. Police entered Green’s home and found her critically wounded. Emergency workers tried unsuccessfully to save her. As the residence remained an active investigation scene, Barber went to the police station and allegedly connected herself to the same Bethel Avenue address. Detectives say she later acknowledged stabbing her mother and told them that the weapon had been left in an alley. Police recovered a suspected weapon there and filed two felony charges. That sequence forms the public foundation of the prosecution, while the events before the stabbing remain largely unknown.
By early September, the public focus around Green had moved from the Bethel Avenue crime scene to funeral services marking her life and death. The criminal proceeding against her daughter, however, remained unresolved in the material available for review. As of Sept. 28, authorities had not publicly supplied a motive in the reports examined, and no reliable later account established a plea or disposition. Green’s obituary records a life that began in Drew and ended in Memphis; the courts must determine what the evidence proves about the circumstances of her death.
Author note: Last updated September 28, 2026.