Deborah WilkinsDeputies found William Robert Packer in his living room face down, with three bullet holes in his back and a pool of blood surrounding his stiff, lifeless body.
Packer died on June 14, and on Thursday the Chattooga County Sheriff's Office arrested his girlfriend, Deborah Elaine Wilkins. But investigators provided few details about the case until the sheriff's office released an incident report this week.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Joe Montgomery said Wilkins called Chattooga County Chief Deputy Kevin Woods on the afternoon of June 14. While the two talked, sheriff's deputies drove to Packer's house, located at 2646 John Jones Road in a rural part of Summerville.
"Bob come on out!" Deputy Charles Cox shouted.
Instead, according to the incident report, Wilkins greeted Cox and the other deputies. She looked drunk. Struggling to string words together, she said she was the only one home.
The investigators went inside anyway. They found a shotgun on the couch and Packer's body on the floor.
Deputies already were familiar with Packer's home. In April 2007, his former wife told investigators that Packer shot a Colt .45 into the ground near her feet. In October 2010, Packer killed his friend, James Kirby. He later was acquitted after claiming self-defense.
But in between those two shootings, in April 2010, Packer woke Wilkins up by putting a gun to her head. He accused her of drinking his Coca-Colas, eating his food and sleeping with other men.
On Thursday, five days after Packer's death, the sheriff's office arrested Wilkins. She remained in jail without a bond Tuesday on a charge of felony murder.
So far, the police have not said whether they know what led to the most recent violent episode in Packer's house. After investigators found the body on June 14, Wilkins gave them a lot to think about.
She said Packer died about 14 hours earlier, at 3 a.m. Then she said that Packer told her he was going to have to "get rid of her because she knew too much," according to the incident report. Then she told investigators, "Blacks did it."
She later said that this was all because of a man who was "stealing Bob blind." About 30 minutes after that, she told investigators that yet another man knew Packer was going to die. She then said that methamphetamine is bad.
When an investigator asked her about the time of Packer's death, according to the report, Wilkins got angry. She said she shouldn't have called the cops. She said she should have dumped the body in the river "like they used to in the old days."
One more time, she told investigators, "It was them blacks."
Then, before going to the sheriff's office for further questioning, she told the deputies she spends most of her nights driving from Packer's house to her mother's.
"You don't sleep much when you are around Bob Packer," she said.
Contact staff writer Tyler Jett at 423-757-6476 or tjett@timesfreepress.com.
From the future, March 4, 2015: