New evidence in case of missing Macon man could change Bibb murder trial, attorneys say
New evidence discovered in the case of a Macon man’s disappearance could drastically change a Bibb County murder trial, attorneys said Monday.
John Fleming III, 53, vanished in September of 2018 and left behind only a car he’d allegedly driven, found weeks later with two bullet shells inside it and spattered with blood stains, according to Telegraph archives.
Police arrested Raymond Eugene Leverett, now 40, for Fleming’s death in November of that year after about two months of investigation. Details of the case kept unfolding for five years, including the location of fragments of a skull and leg bones found in 2022 near where police found Fleming’s car, according to Leverett’s defense attorney C. Alan Wheeler.
Attorneys recently discovered that clothes they believe belonged to Fleming were found with the bones, a prosecuting attorney told the Telegraph Monday. The clothes were sent to the FBI for DNA testing, along with some of the bone fragments that weren’t initially tested.
Wheeler said Monday that the clothes, a pair of pants and a pair of underwear found with the bones in 2022, were rediscovered by prosecuting attorneys last week. He said prosecutors believe they have a witness who can tie the clothes to Fleming.
Wheeler also said Monday that initially the skull was DNA tested, as investigators wanted to use teeth in the skull to obtain bone marrow or blood to match, but that there was not enough blood for DNA testing. Now the leg bones that were found will be tested along with the clothes.
Leverett’s trial, which was set to begin Monday in Bibb Superior Court, will be continued at a later date after the evidence is tested. Leverett is charged with murder along with armed robbery and aggravated assault.
The clothes that could belong to Fleming would likely be a turning point in a case that, so far, has been a murder case without a body.
Borrowed guns, mechanics and rattlesnake bites
Investigators believed Fleming was shot and killed because of the shells and blood stains found in the car, a Chevrolet Prizm, on Oct. 9, 2018, weeks after Fleming first disappeared on Sept. 19.
After his arrest, Leverett went before a judge to seek bond in a November 2018 hearing that revealed many details about the case.
Leverett and Fleming were nothing more than acquaintances because Leverett worked as a mechanic for a friend of Fleming, Wheeler said at the 2018 hearing. There was “no bad blood” between the two, he said.
Wheeler and Leverett said that the day Fleming disappeared, Leverett had been bitten by a rattlesnake and asked Fleming for a ride to the hospital. Fleming apparently dropped Leverett off at Navicent in downtown Macon and never returned to pick him up.
Prosecutors argued at the 2018 hearing that Leverett’s phone had pinged off of cell towers on the road where the car was found days before the vehicle turned up, despite the fact that Leverett told investigators he had never been on the road.
Prosecutors also said the shell casings found in the car were a preliminary match for a gun that Leverett borrowed from his roommate’s girlfriend days before the killing. Relatives of Fleming also told the Telegraph that Leverett owed Fleming some money and that Leverett had “messed up” one of Fleming’s cars, according to Telegraph archives.
Pawned PlayStation and skull fragments
While Leverett was granted bond after that 2018 hearing, he was arrested again in 2019 for allegedly stealing Fleming’s PlayStation 4 and trying to pawn it in Warner Robins, according to Telegraph archives.
Leverett was accused of selling the PS4 six days after Fleming disappeared. He posted bond after the second arrest, according to the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, and has been out on bond since.
In 2022, yet another wrinkle in the case appeared when authorities found bone fragments near the Macon Airport in east Bibb County. A source told the Telegraph that the GBI was testing the fragments to see if they belonged to Fleming. Wheeler confirmed Monday that more of the fragments will be tested.
No start date was set for Leverett’s trial, as attorneys did not know when they would receive results from DNA testing.
