Slaying of South Georgia radio DJ unsolved after 8 years

The TBI is investigating an officer-involved shooting in Cookeville.
The TBI is investigating an officer-involved shooting in Cookeville.

VALDOSTA, Ga. (AP) - The slaying of a South Georgia disc jockey remains unsolved eight years after he was gunned down outside the radio station where he worked.

Stephon Edgerton was known on the air as Juan Gotti to listeners of WGOV radio in Valdosta. He stepped outside the station just before midnight on Jan. 20, 2012, when somebody shot him three times.

"It hurts that someone has not been caught, tried and convicted," Hilda Edgerton, the DJ's wife, told the Valdosta Daily Times. "He wasn't there for his daughter's high school graduation and won't be there when she graduates from college soon. He didn't see his sons become football players and musicians."

Edgerton managed to call 911 before he died and give a brief description of his attacker - a white man wearing a white skull cap or face mask, according to the Lowndes County Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff Ashley Paulk said a person he considered a prime suspect in Edgerton's slaying was killed in a shootout a couple of years after the DJ's death. He said detectives will follow up if any new leads in the case arise.

Hilda Edgerton said she vividly remembers the last time she saw her husband. He was leaving for his 6 p.m. shift at the radio station, and told his children he planned to cook for their grandmother's birthday the next day.

She said: "He looked at all the kids and said, 'I love you all. I love you. See you later.'"

Upcoming Events