In the early hours of March 18, 2022, the quiet of the Art Center Apartments in Moultrie, Georgia, was shattered by a brutal act of violence that claimed the lives of two people and an unborn child. Ja'Mya Lajerika McIntosh, an 18-year-old female, and 50-year-old Charles Stanley Butt were discovered shot to death inside their residence. The tragedy was compounded by the fact that McIntosh was pregnant at the time of her murder, and her baby did not survive. McIntosh had been in a relationship with a relative of Butt's and was living in the apartment with them.
The Moultrie Police Department, faced with a double homicide and feticide, requested the assistance of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The investigation soon focused on a 19-year-old from Moultrie, Eldriquez Silas, who was known to have recently visited the apartment shared by Butt and McIntosh. On March 25, 2022, just a week after the discovery of the bodies, Silas was arrested in connection with the killings. He was subsequently booked into the Colquitt County Jail.
Silas faced a litany of serious charges, including two counts of Malice Murder, two counts of Felony Murder, one count of Home Invasion, one count of Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Crime, and one count of Feticide. The case was then handed over to the District Attorney's Office for prosecution. In a later development, a little over two years after his arrest, El'Driquez Silas Jr. was released on bail in early July 2024, while awaiting further legal proceedings. The investigation into the deaths of Ja'Mya McIntosh, her unborn child, and Charles Butt remains active.
