Read about homicides in Chattanooga
A triple slaying in Summerville that ripped apart a family and shocked a community was among nearly a dozen reported homicides in North Georgia counties in 2010.
And the body of Theresa Parker, a 911 dispatcher who went missing in 2007, was found in a cornfield in Chattooga County in September. Her husband, Sam Parker, was convicted in 2009 of her murder.
Whitfield County, which had only one homicide in 2009, reported six in 2010. They included the August attack in Summerville by David Hartline that killed ex-girlfriend Mindy Bullard’s father and former husband and ended with Hartline shot to death.
Three counties – Catoosa, Dade and Murray – reported no homicides in 2010.
“We’ve been very fortunate this year,” said Catoosa County Sheriff’s Capt. Scott Jordan. The county normally has one to two homicides a year, he said.
Chattooga County
• Oct. 6 – William Robert Packer was charged with fatally shooting his lifelong friend, James Kirby, 48, in the chest at his house in Summerville. Community members were shocked. Packer was charged with murder and his case is pending before the grand jury.
Gordon County
• Jan. 24 – Brothers Jerry Cox, 61, and Roger Cox, 57, were found dead in their house at 2500 Knight Road in Ranger, Ga. Gordon County sheriff’s deputies ruled their deaths a murder-suicide.
• July 29 – Paul Buchannon, 36, was charged in a triple shooting that started at his estranged girlfriend’s house in Resaca and ended in a shootout near railroad tracks off U.S. Highway 41. Police charged Buchannon with abducting and killing Christy McKnight, 40, and injuring McKnight’s son, Dustin Henderson, 17, and nephew, Cody Adams, 19. Two officers shot Buchannon when he wouldn’t lower his weapon. He was charged with murder and indicted by the grand jury in October.
Walker County
• Oct. 27 – Jimmie Hollis was arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of her husband, D.C., in the couple’s house in Flintstone. Police caught Jimmie Hollis trying to leave the home and charged her with murder. Her case is pending before the grand jury.
• Dec. 7 – Eric Jackson, 30, was charged with stabbing his father, Clarence, 62, to death at the family’s home in Walker County. Eric Jackson’s mother, Linda, found her husband dead in the backyard and her son missing. He was found and charged with murder. His case is expected to be presented to the grand jury by February.
Whitfield County
• April 19 – Bryan Dennington, 34, was charged with murder after his friend William Vaughn, 28, was stabbed. The grand jury chose not to indict Dennington based on self-defense.
• June 1 – Rita Spurgeon, 49, was charged with shooting and killing her husband, Audie, at their house on Maple Grove Road. She initially blamed an intruder but police said her story didn’t match the evidence. Police said she confessed after questioning and has been indicted on a murder charge. Her trial hasn’t been set.
• Aug. 26 – David Hartline, 41, went on a deadly shooting spree at a birthday party for his ex-girlfriend’s daughter, according to police. Hartline killed Mindy Bullard’s father, Edward “Buster” Manz III, and her ex-husband, Kenneth Simonson, and shot Bullard in the legs. Before Manz died he fired two shots at Hartline, killng him.
• Oct. 1 – Joshua Johnson, 15, was charged with murder in the strangling of his grandmother, Lorraine Frazier. Johnson called 911 to report finding her body at the house where they lived, but police believe Johnson killed her. Johnson will be tried as an adult, and his case is waiting to be presented to the grand jury.