Brunswick, GA Trailer Park 911 Caller Charged With 8 Counts Of First Degree Murder

MSNBC----

Man who called 911 charged in deaths of 8 Kin

(An eighth victim dies in a mass shooting incident at a Georgia trailer park, and police have arrested the family member who called 911 on evidence tampering and drug charges. MSNBC's Contessa Brewer reports.)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

BRUNSWICK, Ga. - The 911 call was chilling: A frantic 22-year-old told a dispatcher he had returned home from a night out to find his entire family dead in his father's mobile home.

After a week working a case so murky they could not say whether a killer was on the loose, Police said Guy Heinze Jr. was responsible for the slayings he reported and charged him with eight counts of first-degree murder. Among the dead were seven of his relatives, including his father.

As family members prepared to bury the victims Saturday, Glynn County Police Chief Matt Doering said two new pieces of information led authorities to charge Heinze late Friday.

He would not say what that information was or how the victims died last weekend at a mobile home park a few miles north of Brunswick, a port city midway between Savannah and Jacksonville, Fla.

The chief also declined to say whether police believe Heinze acted alone.

"Right now, I don't know," Doering said. "I do know he's involved... I would have not allowed him to be arrested if I was not comfortable with that."

Heinous Crime

Doering, who insists revealing details about the slayings could jeopardize the investigation, said he wasn't sure Heinze was responsible for the deaths until late Friday afternoon.

"It's the most heinous crime we've ever had in this community," he said.

Hours after the bodies were found, Heinze was charged with evidence tampering, lying to police and drug possession. The arrest warrant for the evidence tampering charge says Heinze admitted removing a shotgun from the home and trying to hide it from police in the trunk of his car. He told police he thought the gun was stolen.

But police never said they suspected him in the killings, and he was released on bond on the lesser charges for about two hours Friday before he was charged with murder and returned to the county jail.

A phone message left for Heinze Jr.'s attorney, Ron Harrison, was not immediately returned. Harrison said earlier this week that Heinze denied any part in the slayings.

In the call to emergency dispatchers early Aug. 29, Heinze said it appeared the victims had been beaten to death.

"My whole family's dead!" he screamed. At one point he returned to the mobile home to find his cousin Michael Toler, whom he said had Down syndrome, barely breathing.

"Michael's alive, tell them to hurry!" Heinze yelled in the background as a maintenance man at the mobile home park spoke with a dispatcher. "He's beat up! His face is smashed in!"

Toler died later at a hospital. The seven other victims were found dead at the scene. The sole survivor was 3-year-old Byron Jimmerson Jr., the son of one of the slain women. He was critically injured and remained hospitalized after.

On Friday, as Heinze was arrested, family members gathered for a funeral home visitation. The victims were to be buried Saturday.

The dead included the suspect's father, Guy Heinze Sr., 45; his uncle, Rusty Toler Sr., 44; and his aunt, Brenda Gail Falagan, 49. Also slain were Toler Sr.'s four children — Chrissy Toler, 22; Russell D. Toler Jr., 20; Michael Toler, 19; and Michelle Toler, 15.

Chrissy Toler's boyfriend, Joseph L. West, 30, was also killed. Byron is her son.

Clint Rowe, who has been acting as a spokesman for the family, said it was "definitely a surprise" to learn of the arrest at the visitation.

"I'm floored right now," Rowe, who is an uncle to the Toler children, said from the funeral home. "But right now it's just an arrest. We have to see where this thing takes us so I'm going to keep my mouth shut until the Glynn County Police Department informs us of more."

Gail Montgomery, the manager of the New Hope Plantation mobile home park, where the slayings happened, said the arrest leaves a lot of questions unanswered.

"I'm feeling just like everyone else is right now, we're all shocked," she said. "We don't know what any of the circumstances are. We don't know if there was more than one or if it was him by himself."



View Larger Map

Sources: MSNBC, Glynn County Police Dept., AJC.com, Google Maps

Georgia Police Releases 911 Call From Home Of 8 Victims Murdered Execution Style... Drug Debt Possible Motive

MSNBC----


(Victim no. 8 has now died in the Georgia trailer park shooting.)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

(Family members of the murder victims found at the New Hope Plantation mobile home park in Georgia are searching for answers. They call the Killer a "Coward".)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

(7 Family members found slain in Brunswick, Ga.)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

BRUNSWICK, Georgia - A frantic caller told authorities he had just come home to find several relatives apparently beaten to death and another barely breathing, according to an emergency call tape released Monday from the weekend attack at a mobile home park in southeastern Georgia.

"My whole family is dead!" screamed Guy Heinze Jr., 22. "It looks like they've been beaten to death. I don't know what to do, man."

When authorities arrived Saturday morning, they found seven people dead and two clinging to life. One of the survivors died Sunday, raising the death toll to eight.

Police have refused to say how they were killed or why and have said they don't know if the attacker is still in the area. Police have not identified a suspect and are offering a $25,000 reward for information.

"We still believe there is a person or persons responsible for this somewhere out there, and we're looking for them," Glynn County Police Chief Matt Doering said Monday.

Heinze, who spoke with the emergency call operator from a neighbor's house, was later arrested on drug and other charges, including lying to police.

Asked if Heinze was involved in the slayings, Doering said Sunday: "I'm not going to rule him out, but I'm not going to characterize him as a suspect."

On the emergency call, Heinze said his father, uncle and cousins were among the dead. After handing off the phone to an employee at the mobile home park, Heinze apparently returns to the trailer and is overheard on the call screaming that his cousin Michael, who had Down syndrome, was still breathing and that his face was "smashed in."

"Michael's alive, tell them to hurry!" Heinze said, in the background. "He's breathing! He needs help!"

Survivor in critical condition

Police on Sunday said one person rescued at the scene, 19-year-old Michael Toler, had died at a Savannah hospital. The only survivor, whose name and age has not been released, remains in critical condition.

Police have said the attacker was not among the dead or the last survivor. They also said they have no evidence to suggest suicide was involved.

Neighbor Margaret Orlinski, who called police after Heinze came screaming to her home, told an emergency operator that a baby also lived in the mobile home where the victims were found.

"I know there's a little baby," Orlinski says on the recording. "Shoot, there's a little babe. I don't know if the baby was in there or not."

Heinze doesn't mention a baby on the police recording. Police have declined to give ages of the victims, but Doering has said there were "no infants" among them.

Police have urged residents to be aware and cautious, and the uncertainty has created fear among some in the town.

Resident Toni Mugavin said she wonders if she needs to sleep with a gun under her pillow, afraid the killer is still on the loose. Mugavin expressed frustration with the lack of information about what happened.

"There's no manhunt, no suspect," said Mugavin, 50. "There's nothing specific they're telling us."

Run-down mobile home

The slayings happened in a dingy mobile home built on the grounds of a historic plantation, nestled among centuries-old, moss-draped oak trees. The park consists of about 100 spaces and is near the center of New Hope Plantation, according to the plantation's Web site.

The 1,100-acre tract is all that remains of a Crown grant made in 1763 to Henry Laurens, who later succeeded John Hancock as president of the Continental Congress in 1777.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation was conducting autopsies Sunday on four of the victims. GBI spokesman John Bankhead said Glynn County police would be in charge of releasing any results, and Doering refused to comment on them. He said autopsies on the remaining four victims would begin Monday.

Tedious Investigation

Doering defended his vague statements about the case, saying he didn't want the public to know details that might compromise what he called a "tedious" investigation.

Still, the dearth of information has frustrated residents, said Mary Strickland, who owns The Georgia Pig, a popular local barbecue place.

"If it is a murder-suicide then let people know so they don't think there's some lunatic out there," Strickland said. "We got a lot of people who panic and the more information you put out there, the better you make them feel."



View Larger Map

Sources: MSNBC, Google Maps