Fourth murder suspect now in custody

Billy Hobbs, The Union-Recorder, Milledgeville, Ga.
·2 min read

Mar. 8—COVINGTON, Ga. — A fourth suspect in the murder of a 10-year-old Baldwin County boy has now been arrested, The Union-Recorder has learned.

Jerrell Antwoin Stubbs of Milledgeville was taken into custody about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at a motel in Covington, according to Mary Chandler, special agent in-charge of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Region 6 Office in Milledgeville.

Stubbs tried running away from officers with the Covington Police Department at a motel in the city, but was quickly caught and taken to the Covington Police Department, Chandler said.

Authorities had received a tip that Stubbs was at the motel, Chandler told the newspaper.

An outstanding warrant charging Stubbs with felony murder was issued earlier this week.

A search warrant was expected to be issued sometime this afternoon, so authorities could search the motel room for evidence that might be connected to the murder of Damarion Byrd, a fifth-grader at Midway Hills Academy. The child was shot Sunday while asleep in the bedroom of a single-wide mobile home on the 200 block of Harrisburg Road in Baldwin County.

Someone fired 17 gunshots into the residence with one of the bullets hitting the child. The victim was taken to Atrium Health Navicent Baldwin hospital in Milledgeville where he later died. The child's father, who was also home at the time of the shooting, was not injured.

Stubbs is now reportedly undergoing questioning about the fatal shooting by Baldwin County Sheriff's Office Detective Chris Burrell and GBI Special Agent Christian Nesci.

The latest suspect in the case was expected to be returned from Covington to Baldwin County sometime later today (Wednesday).

Three other suspects have already been arrested in connection with the case — Rodracius Damaris Stephens, 39; Shamonica Kiera Reaves of the 400 block of Ernest Byner Street, Milledgeville; and Charles Chavez Jackson Jr., of the 400 block of Ernest Byner Street, Milledgeville. They each are charged with felony murder and are being held in the Baldwin County Jail.