Lizella man shot dead on a west Bibb County road in 17th homicide of 2018
A man pulling out of his driveway Friday morning discovered the body of Bibb County's 17th homicide victim.
The deceased, 21-year-old Chad Bilow, of Lizella, was found with a gunshot wound to the head, lying on the grassy shoulder of the 4400 block of Dixon Road off Fulton Mill Road.
Bibb County deputy coroner Lonnie Miley ruled out suicide shortly after arriving on the rural road a couple miles south of Eisenhower Parkway in west Bibb County.
"There's no gun," Miley said shortly after pronouncing Bilow dead.
GBI agents from the Perry investigative office were called due to the possibility that Bilow was killed elsewhere and might have been dumped, Sheriff David Davis said.
The discovery of a single shell casing near Bilow's body made it clear to investigators that he was killed on that stretch of road.
Davis said the investigation will determine whether the man was killed "execution style."
Bilow is known to investigators due to his criminal history, he said.
"He's been arrested a few times," the sheriff said.
Davis said the public has reason to be concerned but not worried about the unsolved killings.
"You have to look at the common factors of these cases. A lot of them boil down to some type of personal conflict, whether it's personal conflict over a relationship, maybe some illicit activity, those kinds of things," Davis said. "We have a serial situation of a number of homicides, but each homicide has its own causative factors, but there some commonalities."
When killers and their victims know each other, cases can be more difficult to solve due to the "cone of silence" of witnesses who are afraid to talk.
Davis said the sheriff's office is continuing its outreach in the community to get the public more comfortable talking to law enforcement, but the factors contributing to the high homicide rate run deep in society.
"When you look at the trend, we're reaping the harvest of some long-term neglect and some long-term feeling of hopelessness in a lot of these areas throughout town," Davis said. "It took us a long time to get here, and we can only hope that it won't take us as long to get out of it."
Dixon Road was closed by crime scene tape, multiple patrol cars and sheriff's vehicles until about 11 a.m.
Assistant Bibb County District Attorney Sandra Matson and an investigator from her office were talking to neighbors as crime scene technicians combed the area for clues.
Bibb County sheriff's public affairs Sgt. Clay Williams noted the heightened prosecutorial focus on homicides.
"Just because of what's been going on recently, they're starting to come out to assist us. We're just trying different techniques to help us solve the cases as fast as we can," Williams said.
He urged the public to start caring more for one another and work together to stop the violence.
"These are terrible scenes. I know the sheriff's office and myself are tired of this, and we need the public's help."
Anyone with information is urged to call 478-751-7500 or phone anonymous tips to Macon Regional Crimestoppers at 877-68-CRIME.
This story was originally published May 11, 2018 at 7:37 AM with the headline "Lizella man shot dead on a west Bibb County road in 17th homicide of 2018."