Man charged with DUI, homicide in Jones County crash that killed his wife, records say

A man turned himself into law enforcement to be charged with driving under the influence and vehicular homicide Monday after his wife died while riding on their off-road vehicle weeks prior in Jones County, according to records from the Jones County Sheriff’s Office.

Zachary Taylor Schwartz, 31, was allegedly driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, according to an arrest report The Telegraph obtained through the Georgia Open Records Act.

The Forsyth couple was riding a utility terrain vehicle and “struck a tree that had very recently fallen across the roadway” on Barron Russell Road around 2 a.m. on Dec. 28, a Facebook post from the sheriff’s office said.

The UTV hit an embankment and flipped on its side, according to a diagram describing the crash.

Allison Schwartz, Zachary Schwartz’s 31-year-old wife, “was ejected from the vehicle and suffered fatal injuries,” Deputy Christopher Alan Shurley said in a crash report. She died at the scene.

Zachary Schwartz was treated at a Macon hospital for minor injuries, according to the crash report.

Evidence at the scene indicated drugs and alcohol were possibly involved, so deputies asked if Zachary Schwartz would agree to a chemical test, but he “refused,” Shurley said. Therefore, the sheriff’s office served the hospital with a search warrant “to get blood draws ... to be sent off to the (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) for testing,” Shurley said in the report.

Zachary Schwartz was charged with first-degree felony vehicular homicide, and four misdemeanors including DUI, refusing a DUI test, possession of marijuana and reckless driving, according to the arrest report.

“I also discovered that evidence was intentionally discarded in the woods to avoid detection,” Shurley said.

Deputies initially intended to also charge him with abandonment of drugs, tampering of evidence and having an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle, but he did not end up facing these charges, according to Brittani Marks, administrative coordinator for JCSO, and a Facebook post by the sheriff’s office.

Zachary Schwartz was booked in the Jones County Jail Monday and released later that day, an arrest report said.

This story was originally published January 13, 2026 at 11:30 AM.