UPDATE: According to the original incident report, the Whitfield County Sheriff's Office responded to a shooting just after midnight on Nov. 12, 1984, at a gas station in Rocky Face. There, investigators found Ernest Griffin lying on the ground, shot in the head.
They also found Mary Burlison, who had been shot three times. After paramedics rushed her to Hamilton Medical Center, she told investigators that she and Griffin were walking out of the gas station convenience store when she saw her husband, Jay Burlison, pull in to the parking lot. As Griffin got into his car, she said her husband shot him.
Jay Thomas BurlisonShe said she ran to her car, but Jay Burlison allegedly shot her three times through her window. She said he then chased her back into the store and hit her with the pistol before threatening the clerk, Ron Lee Harris, with the gun. Jay Burlison fled the scene, and Harris called the police.
According to an indictment, Jay Burlison shot his wife in the chin, left shoulder and lower back.
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ORIGINAL STORY: A man wanted for a 1984 North Georgia murder was arrested Monday.
Conasauga Judicial Circuit District Attorney Bert Poston said Jay Thomas Burlison was found in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. Burlison is accused of murdering Ernest Griffin and shooting his wife, Mary Burlison, and Ron Lee Harris. He faces charges of murder, two counts of aggravated assault and failure to appear.
Poston said his office's chief investigator, Glenn Swinney, has followed the case since the 1980s. When he left the sheriff's office, he made a copy of his case file. A couple of months ago, somebody filed for social security benefits on Burlison's behalf, Poston said.
Investigators found him at 20 Byrd Road in Lawrenceburg and arrested him Monday. He was transferred to the Whitfield County Jail on Monday night. Burlison, 75, will go before a magistrate judge in Whitfield County at 2 p.m. Tuesday.
According to an FBI notice, Burlison has been wanted in connection to the shooting death of his wife's "male acquaintance." He also allegedly shot Mary Burlison three times on Nov. 12, 1984, with a .357 handgun. He then fled the scene. Authorities believed he drove to Tennessee.
According to the FBI, he also went by the aliases Lester Brown and "Blue Jay." He is listed at 5 feet, 8 inches, and 135 pounds. He has a scar on his face, and appendectomy scar on his stomach and is reportedly missing some teeth.