Bibb County set a record for homicides in 2021. Here is a list of the victims

Macon-Bibb County set a modern-day record for homicides in 2021, with 54 killings reported as of Dec. 29.

Of those, 42 are considered murders by the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office. Six have been categorized as justifiable homicides, which often means someone was killed in self-defense; three as involuntary homicide and two are undetermined.

An inmate of Central State Prison was stabbed to death by another inmate in July, but because the prison is outside of the county sheriff’s jurisdiction, the BCSO does not include it in their list of murders. Because the killing happened within the county, the Telegraph included it in our list of 2021 murders, bringing the total to 43 murders.

Brenda Settles, 40, was initially reported as the first murder of the year after she was found dead on Jan. 2 from apparent blunt force trauma to the head. Her boyfriend Anthony Ray Walker, 53, of Macon, was arrested and charged with murder.

He spent more than 250 days in jail before the Bibb County District Attorney’s Office announced they were dropping the charges against him in September. The DA’s office received a toxicology report indicating Settles died from a combination of methamphetamine overdose and blunt force trauma.

It should be noted that most, if not all, of these cases have not been adjudicated, and many are still under investigation, so details, charges, suspects and more information could change in the coming weeks and months.

2021 murders

1. Ledarius Tremaine Clark

The 28-year old was found shot to death at 195 Pansey Ave. in Macon’s Unionville neighborhood on Jan. 5. A witness said Clark ran from a nearby alley before collapsing in the road. No one has been arrested in connection with Clark’s death. Investigators are looking for 21-year-old Jasirian Kwame Thomas.

2. Terrance Deshun Chapman

Chapman was shot in the abdomen on Feb. 9 near Pendleton Homes around Houston and Heard avenues. No one has been charged in the shooting of the 35-year-old.

3. Monterrious Brown

John Demetrius Simmons, 28, of Chatham County, was initially charged in the shooting death of the infant Monterrious Brown. Those charges were dropped in late August after his defense attorney made the argument Simmons did not intend to shoot Brown. The attorney said the gun was fired by accident, and there was no proof Simmons fired it. The aggravated assault charge was later dismissed by a Macon judge. There is a chance it could be reinstated if prosecutors choose to make a case for it before a grand jury.

4. Carlos Daniels

On Feb. 21, Daniels, 45, died after being shot the day before near the 300 block of Pierce Avenue. No one has been charged in connection with his death.

5. Jayce Gibson

Gibson, 1, was found unresponsive on Feb. 24. He was taken to the Coliseum Northside Hospital where he died. An autopsy on March 1 revealed that he had died from head trauma, which led to the arrest of the mother’s boyfriend, Jamarius Khalil Dixon, who charged with murder and first degree child cruelty

6. Ahmori “Little Man” Searcy

Searcy, 16, was shot and killed on March 3 in the parking lot of the Majestic Gardens Apartments on Rocky Creek Road. Vernon DeShawn Grable, 21, and Zontravion Keontae Hernandez, 20 were both arrested in connection with the killing. Hernandez was arrested in Butts County on a Bibb murder warrant after “a traffic violation” on the night of March 20.

7. Ernest Isaiah Hemphill

The 51-year-old was found unresponsive in the parking lot of the Advance Auto Parts on Mercer University Drive on March 24, shot in the upper body. No one has been charged in connection with his death.

8. Kenneth Wendell Snead Jr.

Snead, 24 was shot and killed during a fight on April 2 at the Blossom Hill Estates apartments on Mercer University Drive.. Robert James Ottman Jr., 17, was arrested in connection with the killing of 24-year-old Snead.

9. Christopher Knight

Knight was working at the Bibb County Jail on April 6 and was in the process of transporting an inmate to the suicide-watch cell when an altercation began. Knight, 30, was stabbed and killed by inmate Albert Booze who managed to obtain control of a knife from Knight. Booze was charged with murder.

10. Parrish Forester

The 48-year-old Forester was found shot in the back near Mumford Road and West Napier Avenue. No one has been charged in connection with this homicide.

11. Cameron Jay-Mon Ashley

On April 15, Ashley was found shot to death in the parking lot where he lived at the Legacy at River Crossing Apartments on Wesleyan Drive in Macon. Ashley, 21, was shot multiple times. Micah Lester, 20, was wanted for questioning in this shooting.

12. Timothy Williams

Williams, 55, was found shot in his “lower extremity” along Columbus Road in Unionville on April 17. No one has been charged in this case.

13. Gregory Lamar Watkins Jr.

Watkins, 27, was shot inside a Chevron convenience story on Emery Highway April 19. Christian Demond Williams, 21, was seen on surveillance footage at the store, according to investigators. Williams was arrested on April 23 at the Green Meadows apartments on Log Cabin Drive. He was charged with murder and four counts of aggravated assault.

Jaravi Daevon Leathers Sr., 20, was identified as the individual who was with Williams. He has been charged with murder as a party to the crime.

14. Brandon Washington

The 23-year-old was shot in the Circle K parking lot on Zebulon Road on April 29. 19-year-old Divine Elamon Taylor and 19-year-old Divinity Elhasaan Taylor were arrested and charged with murder in connection with Washington’s killing.

15. Lance Terrell

Terrell, 32, was found dead by the Jumbo Mart next to the Magnolia Court Motel on Pio Nono Avenue. Willie Lee Daniel, 34, was charged with murder and aggravated assault in connection with Terrell’s killing.

16. Amond Norwood

In one of the most bizarre murders of 2021, Norwood, 26, was found dead under a pile of mattresses along Churchill Street in Unionville on May 7.

Margaton Dudley was arrested on May 14 and was charged with murder and concealing a death. On May 18, Jerome Beasley was arrested on the same charges. Damian Felton, who was already in jail since May 17, was charged with murder and concealing a death on May 19.

Investigators detailed how data from Norwood’s ankle monitor helped them key in on the suspects.

17. Quinterious Hillman and 18. Jerod Lester

Hillman and Lester, both 29, were shot and killed in a bedroom in the Avalon Mobile Home Community on Jeffersonville Road in east Macon on May11. 19-year-old Jaives Jamel Fountain, told investigators he was in the home at the time of the murders. Fountain has been charged with two counts of murder.

19. Darryl McCrary

The 46-year-old was shot in the car at the Reliance Food Mart at the corner of Napier Avenue and Mumford Road on May 18. Two others were wounded in the incident. No one has been charged for this homicide.

20. Dismond Wright

Wright was shot and killed on May 29 at his home on Longacre Drive. Alex Skinner, 37, of Warner Robins was charged with murder.

21. Patricia Gamboa

Gamboa, 30, was shot on Appling Court in east Macon on June 10 while riding inside of a van. Emergency workers caught up to the van near the Ocmulgee River Bridge near I-16 and found the pregnant Gamboa dead inside. Jeremiah Wayne Waller Jr. was charged with murder and feticide.

22. Tyvesha Brown

Investigators believe Brown, 46, was shot and killed by her husband, James W. Brown Jr., 49, on July 27. James Brown then apparently shot and killed himself in their Golden Ocala Boulevard home.

23. Marquez Card

Card was shot multiple times on July 7 on Dewey Street in south Macon and died four days later from his injuries. 20-year-old James Card, Marquez’s older brother, was arrested on July 21 and charged with aggravated assault and murder.

24. Tanesha Thomas

Thomas, 38, was shot and killed at a home on Karen Drive on July 12. Her boyfriend, Leonard Dewayne Holmes, was charged with murder on July 14.

25. Donovan Munir Cason and 26. Kabryan Johnson

Around 1 a.m. on July 24, a large fight broke out in front of the Thirsty Turtle. Cason and Johnson were found dead on the scene when officers arrived. Jacorey Keshawn Meadows, 22, was arrested and charged with two counts of murder and five counts of aggravated assault for the shooting.

After the incident, Sheriff David Davis suspended the liquor license for The Thirsty Turtle. Johnson’s family later filed a lawsuit against the nightclub’s owners. The Turtle’s alcohol license has since been surrendered to the county.

27. Joshua Carl Haynes Lester (stabbed to death in prison)

Lester, 34, was stabbed to death by a fellow inmate at Central State Prison on Fulton Mill Road in western Bibb County on July 28. Randy Young, 34, was charged with Lester’s murder. Although the killing did not take place within the Bibb County Sheriff’s jurisdiction, and therefore is not included in the BCSO tally, the Telegraph and the county coroner consider it a murder within the county.

Lester was serving part of a five-year sentence for an obstruction-of-a-peace-officer conviction in Dalton, Ga., in a 2017 incident. Young was serving life for a 2018 murder of his ex-girlfriend in Clayton County.

28. Freddie Lee Battle

69-year-old Battle was involved in an altercation with 60-year-old Christopher Leon Woods on July 31 around 8:30 p.m. at a home on Bethel Church Road. Woods reportedly shot and killed Battle, and was later charged with murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

29. Darius Deonta Grayer

Grayer, 23, was shot on July 30 on Fort Hill Street. He was transported to a local hospital where he died two days later. No was has been arrested in connection with his killing.

30. Quentavious Moore (undetermined)

One of the most high-profile killings of the year, Moore, 17, was shot and killed inside the Macon Mall food court the afternoon of Aug. 1. According to an investigator’s report, a fight that led to the shooting involved four people, one shot was fired, and the victim had a holster and, at one point, a gun.

His brother, Kowasis Quentrell Moore, 19, has been charged in connection with his murder.

31. Antonio Mason

The 39-year-old Macon was shot on Sept. 23 at around 12:30 a.m. in Pleasant Hill below Walnut Street. Michael Jerome Maxwell, 36, was arrested and charged with his murder.

32. Lateisha Shunterria Stewart

Stewart, 32, was shot in her Hyundai Sonata parked outside a house on Berkshire Drive near Southwest High School on Sept. 25 just before midnight. No one has been arrested in connection with her death.

33. Joshua Griffin

On Oct. 8, just after 6 p.m. the Bibb County Sheriff’s office found 31-year-old Joshua Griffin in the roadway on Emery Drive with a gunshot wound. No arrests have been made in the case.

34. Aquanis Keshawn Howard

Howard, 21, was found shot to death on Grier Street in Macon just before 11 p.m. Oct. 8. He later died at a local hospital. Jeremy Beebee, 26, was fatally wounded in the same incident, but his death was ruled justifiable homicide.

35. Harriet Patrick

The 59-year-old woman was shot while driving down Eisenhower Parkway in Macon on Oct. 10 at 1:16 a.m. Patrick died in a local hospital on Oct. 20. No one has been arrested.

36. Percy Welch Jr.

Welch was one of three men shot on Oct. 10 just before 10 p.m. in the backyard of a residence on Cherry Avenue in Unionville. Welch died four days later in a local hospital. He was the son of the late soul musician Percy Welch. No suspects have been arrested.

37. Shamarian Chatfield

On Oct. 12 at 5:15 p.m. on Napier Avenue, Chatfield, 18, was shot in the upper back and later pronounced dead at a local hospital. 24-year-old Andrew Raqati Hollis and 21-year-old Reshawn Taylor were both charged with conspiracy to commit a felony in connection with Chatfield’s killing.

38. Cyrus Norwood

Norwood, 30, was found mortally wounded on Nov. 10 sitting inside of a car at Shadowood West Apartments on West Highland Drive in west Macon, north of Mercer University Drive. The next day, 20-year-old Braylon Alexander Jones was arrested and charged with murdering Norwood.

39. Shawn Watts

Watts, 24, was found shot to death at a house on Grier Street in Macon’s Pleasant Hill neighborhood the afternoon of Nov. 15. No one has been arrested in connection with his death.

40. James Smith

Smith, 44, was found shot dead with a gunshot wound to the chest the evening of Nov. 19 in a car parked in the 1200 block of Rice Place. No one has been arrested in connection with his death.

41. Montaveous Raines Jr.

The 18-year-old Raines was found shot multiple times in the parking lot of a church on Greentree Parkway in Lake Wildwood the evening of Nov. 19. Jaylen Bryce Smith, 18, and Jordan Michael Mullis, 18, we arrested on Dec. 2 and charged with murder. Two days later, 19-year-old Mia Simone Hawkins was also charged with murder in connection with Raines’ death.

42. Chauncey Love II

On Nov. 23, the 27-year-old Love was found shot to death in a small white car in front of the Best Western Riverside Inn on Riverside Drive.

Javacea Javonne Battle, 23, of Faytetteville, was arrested on Dec. 1 and charged with murder. Battle told investigators that Love was killed during a drug deal by someone else. When the shooting happened, Love, mortally wounded, tried to drive off but crashed down an embankment across the street from the motel. The Two men riding with him ran away but later spoke to investigators.

43. Roderick Reddick

Riddick, 31, was found shot dead in his car near the intersection of Napier Avenue and Birch Street the morning of Dec. 4. No was has been arrested in connection with his killing.

Other killings in Bibb County

These homicides are not considered murders by the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, and include homicides deemed justified and accidental shootings.

1. Larry Liggins (involuntary manslaughter)

The 54-year-old Liggins fell and banged his head on a wooden pillar during a fight at BJ’s Billiards on Jan. 12 and died two days later in a city hospital. Investigators are searching for Justin Antryon Collins, 30, who is wanted on aggravated battery and involuntary manslaughter charges.

2. Miracle Brantley (involuntary manslaughter)

The 8-year-old Brantley was shot in the head on Jan. 29. It’s unclear whether Brantley or another child was playing with the gun when it fired. A 14-year-old who allegedly brought the gun into the house was charged as a juvenile with involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct.

3. Dominique Walker (justifiable homicide)

On March 30, Walker and an 18-year-old man were found shot at Bethlea Avenue and Whitfield Street behind Oglesby Square shopping center near the Macon State Farmers Market. The 18-year-old survived. Walker, 23, died from his injuries.

4. Marquavious Deshaun “Duke” Wright (justifiable homicide)

The 18-year-old was shot and killed at the Majestic Gardens Apartments on Rocky Creek Road on June 16. 17-year-old Deonte Hunt was also wounded in the shooting. Shamar Smith, 14, was charged with felony murder.

5. Antraz Burkett (justifiable homicide)

Burkett, 43, was found shot to death on June 19 in his home in the 800 block of Perry Drive in east Macon between Jeffersonville and Recreation Roads.

There was said to be a “verbal altercation” between Burkett and a woman there. He died at the scene. “It was reported,” a BSO statement said, “that Burkett attacked the female with a hammer striking her in the face and head several times. Burkett was shot by the husband of the female as (Burkett) was attacking her.” The BSCO ruled the death a case of self-defense.

6. Anthony Burke (justifiable homicide)

The 31-year-old Burke reportedly got into a fight with his ex-girlfriend, breaking a window and kicking in the front door. During the fight, a man shot Burke while they were struggling over a gun, according to police.

7. Kameron Ross (involuntary manslaughter)

4-year-old Kameron Ross was visiting his grandmother, Kawana Liggins, 50, at the Pendleton Homes housing project when he was shot and killed while reportedly playing with a gun. Two teenage boys who lived with Liggins were believed to have brought the gun into the home. Liggins was later charged with evidence tampering.

8. Jeremy Beebee (justifiable homicide)

Aquanis Keshawn Howard, 21, was found shot to death on Grier Street in Macon just before 11 p.m. Oct. 8. He later died at a local hospital. Jeremy Beebee, 26, was fatally wounded in the same incident, but his death was ruled justifiable homicide. Beebee was found at the wheel of a Volvo SUV.

9. Jarvis Ottman (justifiable homicide)

Ottman, 37, was shot and killed Nov. 17 at 3420 Mercer University Drive near the entrance of the mall by the former Steak ‘n Shake restaurant. Ottman was reportedly shot multiple times during a fight.

10. Jacovian Maxwell (undetermined)

Maxwell, 36, was shot and killed at a Macon gas station on Dec. 28. The incident is still under investigation.

11. Peter F. Taylor Jr. (undetermined)

Taylor, 70, was shot in his home in east Macon on Dec. 27 and died from his injuries at a local hospital on Dec. 29. The incident is still under investigation.

This story was originally published August 3, 2021 at 5:00 AM.