Suspect arrested in hit and run that left 65-year-old dead in Peach County
A suspect accused of hitting a 65-year-old man with his car and killing him in Peach County was found and detained more than a month after the crash, Georgia State Patrol announced Thursday.
Javeus Montgomery, a 23-year-old from Fort Valley, has been arrested and charged with felony hit and run and felony tampering with evidence, GSP said in a news release. Montgomery is accused of hitting James Oates, who was walking on Georgia Highway 96 with a shopping cart when he was fatally struck.
The crash happened July 23 just after 2 a.m., GSP said. Peach County 911 was alerted of the incident, but the driver who hit Oates fled without alerting emergency personnel. Investigators who responded collected headlight cover fragments and paint chips that were left at the scene. As a result, they were able to determine the vehicle involved was a 2003-2007 Honda Accord with front-end damage and tinted headlights.
Using FLOCK cameras, investigators tracked a vehicle that matched that description in the area just before the crash, GSP said. That vehicle was later spotted in Warner Robins, then was spotted in in Charleston, South Carolina, the following day.
South Carolina Highway Patrol found the vehicle on Aug. 6 with “passenger-side and front-end body damage consistent with a pedestrian impact, signs of repair to the passenger-side view mirror, and the right front headlight ... replaced,” GSP said.
Montgomery was identified as the suspect, though GSP didn’t say when he was actually arrested.
“In his statement to law enforcement, he advised that he struck an unknown object near Macon, Georgia, in July 2025,” GSP said.
Montgomery is in South Carolina and will be extradited back to Georgia to face his charges in Peach County, GSP said.