Family seeks ‘proper homegoing’ for Georgia man found dead after robbery gone wrong
There wasn’t a day that Justin Sawyer went without speaking to his mother. Then the calls stopped.
He was living more than 300 miles away in middle Tennessee and no one could get a hold of him, leaving his family in metro Atlanta fearing the worst.
“That right there sent up a red flag that something definitely is wrong,” Sawyer’s father, Rick Sawyer, told McClatchy News in a phone interview.
Police said the 20-year-old was reported missing Dec. 17 in Clarksville, Tennessee. His car turned up in Georgia days later, and his family is still searching for answers months after three men — 20-year-old Dawuan Davis, 36-year-old Gene “Doug” Henry and 22-year-old Marquell Sims — were arrested in his disappearance and “believed death,” according to police.
Authorities suspect Sawyer was shot in a “robbery that took a bad turn,” his father said. The search for his remains stretched across four states — Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky and South Carolina.
On Tuesday, authorities discovered Sawyer’s body in Clarksville, according to the Leaf Chronicle. Relatives said his body appeared to have been burned, and the medical examiner used dental records to identify the remains.
“With us finding his remains, that can bring a degree of closure,” Rick Sawyer told the newspaper. “Now we can give him a proper homegoing service and start the healing process.”
The three men charged in Sawyer’s disappearance were arraigned Wednesday in a Christian County court. All pleaded not guilty, WKDZ reported.
Davis and Sims are charged with first-degree robbery, kidnapping (with serious physical injury) and assault, according to Kentucky State Police, which assisted in the multi-state investigation. Henry faces charges of abuse of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence.
“They shot him in the legs and in the chest, and only one person knows where the body is,” Rick Sawyer told McClatchy News.
Sawyer’s family drove to Tennessee in early February and assembled a search party in hopes of finding their loved one, WSMV reported. Their search turned up empty, leaving the family with few answers about where the young man’s body might be.
Sawyer’s white Honda Civic was last spotted on surveillance at a Shell gas station in Oak Grove, Kentucky, a little over 10 miles north of Clarksville. Video captured Davis and Sims placing an injured Sawyer in the car’s back seat, according to warrants obtained by ClarksvilleNow.
Authorities say Davis then drove to a home in nearby Hopkinsville, Kentucky, where Henry helped him move Sawyer’s body into the trunk, the outlet reported. The car was abandoned in Georgia days later. Court records do not say where, but Atlanta station WXIA reports that the vehicle was found northwest of the city in Cartersville.
Though his body hadn’t yet been found, his loved ones continued to hold out hope.
“I pray that he comes back to me alive,” Sawyer’s sister, Lauren Sawyer, told WXIA last month. “That someone found him and helped him. I know God makes no mistakes, so I’m trusting in him to bring him home either way.”
Clarksville police have declined to comment on the case, citing the ongoing investigation.