East Macon man charged with murder after woman found dead in van Thursday
A 39-year-old east Macon man was jailed on murder and other charges Thursday morning, not long after a Miami, Florida, woman was found shot to death in a van as she was apparently being rushed to the hospital, Bibb County sheriff’s officials said.
The officials, in a statement sent to news outlets on Thursday night, said the shooting suspect, Jeremiah Wayne Waller Jr., was taken in for questioning soon after sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene of the shooting on Appling Court, just south of Shurling Drive.
The neighborhood is a mile or so from where the victim, Patricia Gamboa, 30, was found dead in the van, which had stopped along Gray Highway near Interstate 16 as she was being driven to the hospital.
Gamboa’s death was the county’s 27th homicide of 2021 and the 23rd slaying that has or is likely to result in murder charges. (Two of the 27 deaths have led to vehicular homicide charges and two others have been deemed involuntary manslaughter cases.)
It was not immediately known what led investigators to suspect Waller.
Waller had been wanted on an apparently unrelated felony charge of theft by receiving stolen property. More charges against him were said to be pending.
This story was originally published June 11, 2021 at 9:08 AM.