Crime

GBI identifies body found ‘in plastic bags’ and possibly dismembered in Hancock County

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday said it had identified the decomposing remains of a body found late last week outside a Hancock County home.

The victim was identified as Justin Yeng Xiong, 29, of Eatonton, officials said.

Investigators over the weekend charged a Middle Georgia man with murder in connection with Xiong’s death.

Christopher Collin Demmon, 33, who has ties to Milledgeville and Gray, was arrested June 1 in South Carolina on unrelated charges.

As The Telegraph first reported on Sunday, his arrest in that state came at least three days before Xiong’s body was discovered in a bag or bags dumped outside a house on Main Street in the rural town of Devereux, between Sparta and Milledgeville.

Investigators have yet to say what led them to suspect Demmon or divulge details or possible circumstances of Xiong’s death.

Another law enforcement source familiar with the investigation has told The Telegraph that Xiong’s body was “in plastic bags” and may have been dismembered.

Joe Kovac Jr.
The Telegraph
Joe Kovac Jr. writes about local news and features for The Telegraph, with an eye for human-interest stories. Joe is a Warner Robins native and graduate of Warner Robins High. He joined the Telegraph in 1991 after graduating from the University of Georgia. As a Pulliam Fellowship recipient in 1991, Joe worked for the Indianapolis News. His stories have appeared in the Washington Post, the Seattle Times and Atlanta Magazine. He has been a Livingston Award finalist and won numerous Georgia Press Association and Georgia Associated Press awards.
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