Press Releases: 2012

Decatur, GA. -  The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has been notified that its Medical Examiner’s Office has been re-accredited by the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME).  The GBI Medical Examiner’s Office was first accredited in August of 2006.

DECATUR – An analysis of autopsies performed by the GBI Medical Examiner’s Office in 152 counties which drug overdose was the cause of death or a significant contributing factor in the death found there was an 8.6% decrease in the number of prescription overdose deaths in 2011 compared to 2010.

Jackson, GA - The GBI has charged 5 inmates at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in  Jackson, Georgia with the armed robbery and murder of fellow inmate, Laderick Cornellius Chappel, 33, Albany, Ga.

At approximately 7:00 a.m. today, Diana and Samuel Franklin, of 783 East Old Wire Road, Butler, Georgia, were arrested in an ongoing GBI Child Abuse Investigation requested by Taylor County Sheriff Jeff Watson.  

Perry, GA—Yesterday, GBI agents from the Perry Regional Office and Crawford County Sheriff’s Investigators, assisted by the Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office, charged 48 year-old Crawford County resident Jeffrey Averett with the murder of Daryl Oxford, age 39, formerly of Gray, GA

Athens, GA. – The Athens-Clarke County Police Department and the GBI’s Human Trafficking Unit are seeking the public’s help in locating fugitive Archie Richard Byrd, wanted for Trafficking of Persons.

Perry, GA—On Saturday, April 21, 2012, a park ranger patrolling Camp Benjamin Hawkins Boy Scout reservation in Crawford County discovered the decomposed body of a white male wrapped in bed linens.

Irwinton, Ga. - Lisa Brooks, the Irwinton City Clerk, and Roger Ford, the employee responsible for street maintenance, were arrested today and charged with Theft by Taking by agents of the GBI Milledgeville Office.

PEARSON- On Monday, April 16, 2012, at approximately 10:30 a.m., Tri-County 911 received a call in reference to Curtis Lee McCutchen, 74 years old, being discovered deceased in his residence by family members.

Auburn, GA – As result of a search warrant executed today at a residence in Auburn by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force and the Gwinnett County Police Department, the GBI charged Thomas Carey Wakeman with 1 count of Possession of Child Pornog