He showed up at his brother’s house unexpectedly. His brother called the cops

Dennis Sharod Penix showed up at his brother’s house in downtown Macon hours after the bodies of his stepbrother and another man were found lying lifeless on a rural dirt road.

The dead men, 22-year-old Kelvin Jurand Thompson and 23-year-old Robdreckious Jamal Quainton, had been shot and left in Pulaski County.

Their bodies were discovered just after midnight Tuesday near a pond on Sandridge Road, about 20 miles southwest of Penix’s home in Cochran.

Catina Thompson, Penix’s mom and Quainton’s stepmother, said her phone rang at about 4 a.m.

It was a detective calling to tell her Quainton had been killed.

Thompson, who is of no relation to Kelvin Thompson, said she drove to the scene, where a detective asked if she knew Dennis Penix.

“I said, ‘Yes, that was my son.’ ” Thompson recalled. “They told me he was still on the run and accused of killing. I got right on the phone and started calling everybody.”

Her other son had already heard of the killings by the time Penix reached his house on High Street.

Authorities have said they suspect Penix used multiple vehicles to get to his brother’s house, stopping in Warner Robins where he is thought to have ditched a Chevrolet Malibu.

“I told (my son), ‘If Dennis come up, don’t say one word about nothing. Just call the police.’ ” Thompson said. “I told him what was going on, and he started hollering at me, saying that his brother makes bad choices, but he ain’t going to kill nobody. …

“I said ... ‘Do like I said. Everybody saying it is true.’ ”

He called 911 about 8 a.m., and police swarmed his house, which is a few doors down from the Sidney Lanier Cottage.

“When the police pulled up, (my son) said Dennis started crying and said, ‘You call the police on me?’ and took off running,” Thompson said.

It took about two hours for Bibb County sheriff’s deputies, U.S. Marshals and GBI agents to find Penix. He was arrested about 10 a.m. near Washington Park and College Street.

Where and why the men were killed is being investigated, but authorities have said they suspect it was a drug deal gone sour.

A gun authorities believe was used in the slayings was recovered Thursday morning by a pond near where the bodies were found.

‘Getting themselves in trouble’

Penix, who was born in Illinois but grew up in Georgia, has a juvenile criminal record, his mother said.

Trouble with the law continued into adulthood shortly after his 17th birthday.

In July 2010, Penix and a friend stole batteries from Rozier Auto Parts and broke into a woman’s house in Cochran, according to Bleckley County Superior Court records.

The pair cut holes in the ceilings to rip out light fixtures and tore electrical wiring from the walls. They also took the woman’s hot water heater, refrigerator and bed springs, court records show.

Penix was out of jail on probation by Jan. 12, 2011, when he toted a loaded .22 caliber pistol onto the campus of Middle Georgia College. The serial number had been scratched off. When approached by police, he ran, according to court records. He pleaded guilty to carrying a weapon on school grounds and possession of a gun by a convicted felon.

Jail didn’t keep him from the outside world, though. Pictures of Penix in jail, posing along and with other inmates, can be viewed on numerous Facebook accounts in his name.

Catina Thompson didn’t know Kelvin Thompson but said Quainton and Penix loved each other. They’d grown up together for the past decade.

“Him and my son had the same problem, getting themselves in trouble … dealing with drugs and doing stuff they know they weren’t supposed to be doing,” she said.

Quainton dropped out of high school in the 11th grade. Kelvin Thompson, nicknamed Florida Boy, dropped out in the 10th grade, according to Houston County Superior Court records.

Both lived in Warner Robins.

Quainton had no criminal record until November 2013, when he and Kelvin Thompson each were charged with aggravated assault and armed robberies off Memorial Terrace and Tabor Drive in Warner Robins, according to court records.

Two men were robbed, and one was shot and came close to dying, records show.

Quainton was released in February 2014 on a $7,500 bond with special conditions, but his bond was revoked after numerous violations. He negotiated a plea deal in the aggravated assault case, but it’s unclear exactly what his sentence was.

Thompson pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and was sentenced to 15 years, three to be served in prison. The armed robbery charges were dropped, and he was released on May 7.

This story was originally published June 30, 2017 at 4:49 PM with the headline "He showed up at his brother’s house unexpectedly. His brother called the cops."