Authorities identify body found on Rice Mill Road near Rocky Creek in south Bibb County

Police found a Macon man dead near Rocky Creek Road in southwest Bibb area in a day that also saw police arrest a suspect in a separate case, officials said.

Police found Lawrence Elliot Phelps Jr., 49, dead near the intersection of Rice Mill Road and Saint Charles Place just off Rocky Creek after they got a call about the body Sunday at about 1:15 p.m., according to a statement from the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies found no evidence of foul play during an initial investigation, the statement said. Bibb coroner Leon Jones said Phelps’s family was notified and his body will be sent to the GBI for an autopsy to determine cause of death.

Bibb sheriff’s deputies also arrested a suspect Sunday in the murder of Donmeico Flowers, 26, of Centerville earlier this year.

Flowers died April 1 after he was shot during a fight at 1031 Hall Street at about 2:30 a.m. He died at the scene.

Deputies arrested Shamar Jartavious Robinson, 22 of Lizella, for Flowers’ death Sunday, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office. He was held without bond at the Bibb County jail.

Flowers’ brother Hakeem, 16, died in a 2022 shooting on Mason Street east of Pio Nono Avenue, according to Telegraph archives.

Both events are still under investigation. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office at 478-751-7500 or Macon Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-877-68CRIME.