Report: Door kicked in at home of east Macon slaying victim

Michael Pitts gave his neighbor a ride Friday morning to the AutoZone on Shurling Drive to get a car battery.

With the battery purchased, Pitts and Thomas Knighton drove back to their side-by-side duplex apartments at the dead end of Elder Street in east Macon.

Pitts said he didn’t hear or see anything unusual -- other than not seeing 63-year-old Knighton during the weekend.

Knighton often tinkered in the yard outside the apartments, he said.

“It wasn’t like him,” Pitts said of his neighbor’s absence.

He went to Knighton’s door at about noon Saturday, but no one answered, according to a Bibb County Sheriff’s Office report released Monday.

Pitts tried again Sunday at about 3 p.m. When he tried to knock, the door swung open, Pitts said.

Knighton was on the floor near the door with a cut on his throat. He called 911, he said.

The door appeared to have been kicked in, according to the report.

Knighton was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the sheriff’s office.

An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday. The GBI’s crime lab in Macon has received eight cases since Friday. Five autopsies were set to be performed Monday, according to the GBI.

‘A LONER’

Crime scene tape that blocked off the duplex during the investigation was gone by Monday afternoon.

Knighton’s brother, David Hill, was there gathering any belongings of value.

The duplex is one of eight. More than half the units are boarded up.

Earlier in the day, Hill described his brother as “a loner.”

He wasn’t married. His children live out west, Hill said.

Hill said his brother was a hard worker who was employed by a home improvement store and for landscaping jobs in the past.

Pitts said Knighton didn’t usually have much company.

Lt. Randy Gonzalez said investigators are following up on “any leads they have.”

No information regarding a motive has been released.

Deputies canvassed the neighborhood Sunday talking with Knighton’s neighbors, he said.

Anyone with information about the killing is asked to call the sheriff’s office at 478-751-7500 or Macon Regional Crimestoppers at 877-68-CRIME.

To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398.

This story was originally published March 9, 2015 at 4:28 PM with the headline "Report: Door kicked in at home of east Macon slaying victim ."