About Lake Oconee news. (Greensboro, GA) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (June 23, 2017)
Friday, June 23,2017 Lake Oconee News Page All T. MICHAEL STONE/Staff Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills, center, at a press conference last Thursday is flanked on the left by Newton County Sheriff Ezell Brown and on the right by Morgan County Sheriff Robert Markley. Behind them are Georgia Department of Corrections, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, FBI and Georgia State Patrol officials, as well as other law enforcement representatives. Timeline Continued from A1 31 other inmates, sitting in the roadway, and stopped his car. The two escapees, brandishing the pistols, carjacked his 2004 Honda Civic and fled. » Between 6:55 and 7 a.m., Jim Mallet, a retiree who lives in the Long Shoals neighborhood, drove up and stopped his vehicle when he heard someone onboard the bus yell out, “Help.” Mallet then discovered the correc tions officers shot to death and called 911. » Deputies from Putnam County Sheriffs Office began arriving shortly after 7 a.m., along with a host of detectives and Sheriff Howard Sills. The murders of Sgt. Curtis Billue, 58, and Sgt. Chris Monica, 42, prompted an intensified local, state and nationwide manhunt. » Capt. Chris Bish, of the Morgan County Sheriffs Office, was one of many who responded to the scene, and he conducted a search along the route towards White Plains, based on in formation that one of the prisoners might be heading toward Comer. » Other agencies in the manhunt included, the FBI and Georgia Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Mar shal’s Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force, Georgia Department of Corrections and sheriffs offices from Taliaferro, Greene, Hancock, Jasper and Morgan counties. » Sometime between 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., the escapees burglarized and ransacked a house on Cox Road in Morgan County. The woman who lived there told Bish that when she came home, she noticed something was amiss when she opened the door, which was loose. Bish said a torn screen door on the back of the house suggested the two might have been in the house when the woman returned, causing them to leave in a hurry. Their blood-stained Department of Corrections clothing was found not far from where the burglary took place. » Dogs were engaged in the search and picked up the scent of the two men from the area where the clothes were found, but lost it when they reached Highway 441. Bish surmised the two men may have had the car there. » Not long after that, there was an alleged sighting at the Family Dollar Store near Cox Road. The sighting was reported by Madison Police officers and a GBI officer, according to Bish, but was denied by Sills during a press confer ence. » At 1:40 p.m., Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal releases a statement saying the authorities would have whatever resources they needed in their attempt to capture the escapees and bring them to justice. “No effort will be spared in pursuit of the killers, and no state resources required in this endeavor will be spared,” Deal said. » Around 10 p.m. Tuesday night, Dubose and Rowe stole a 2008 F-250 work truck from Martin Marietta Materi als on Seven Islands Road in Buckhead. The truck had been parked next to a building with the keys in the ignition and a trailer attached to it. Authorities determined the trailer’s locking device was disen gaged by striking it with an unknown blunt object and the trailer was removed, according to a Morgan County Sheriffs Office incident report. Shoe prints found in the area where the truck and trailer were parked were identified as belonging to state-issued inmate work boots. A Be-On-Look-Out was issued for the truck, but it turned out that Rowe and Dubose had removed the license plate and replaced it with another one from a different truck. Morgan County Sheriff Robert Markley said he was proud of the way his de partment performed under stressful circumstances and also expressed admi ration for how the public responded. “Our citizens stepped up and shared information with us,” Markley said. “In a stressful situation they did what we asked them to do.” Beasley’s green Honda was discovered Wednesday in awooded areabeside Rite Aide in Morgan County. The car was damaged, Sills said, noting the inmates had driven it over a berm into the woods where it collided with a tree. » On Thursday after noon during a press con ference, Sills announced the reward for information leading to the arrest of the two escaped prisoners had climbed to $130,000. “I have been a police officer of some sort in this state for over 43 years and I can tell you today there has never been a reward that large,” Sills said. “Literally every law enforcement agency in the state - local, federal and state is involved. And it’s not just because of the crime, it’s because the public is in grave danger. These are se riously dangerous, vicious hoodlums that need to be apprehended.” » Thursday evening, it was reported the two were in Tennessee, where they continued their crime spree, reportedly tying up a couple in a home invasion, stealing various vehicles, being the target of another manhunt by Tennessee authorities,and ending when they surrendered to a homeowner whose vehicle they were trying to steal. The victims Georgia Department of Corrections Commissioner Greg Dozier said the loss of the two officers has caused him “pain and anguish that began in the toes of my feet and went up to my heart. As I learned more and more about these two officers and met their families, I realized that the impact of these cowardly acts is far-reach ing.” Dozier said the 42-year- old Sergeant Monica left behind a wife, two daugh ters and a community that loves him. Sergeant Billue, a 10-year veteran of the agency also leaves behind a large extended family. ‘We will miss them deeply,” Dozier said. “They can’t be replaced.” The funeral for Sgt. Billue was held in the auditorium of his alma mater, Wilkin son County High School in McIntyre, Saturday, June 17. The funeral for Sgt. Monica took place Tuesday, June 20, at First United Methodist Church in Milledgeville. 1101 LAKE 2S&3- ATLANTA HEARING ASSOCIATES Better Hearing is a Better Life Welcome to Medicare!* Have you scheduled your preventive visit to review and provide: • Falls risk • Depression risk CH^simpIo hearing test) • Simple vision test Contact us today to schedule your hearing screening appointment! And more...? *You must take advantage of this during your first 12 months on Medicare. GREENSBORO 706.752.3147 hearatlanta.com MILLEDGEVILLE 478.387.7042
