In the late winter of 2022, the community of Tifton, Georgia, was unsettled by the violent death of one of its residents. Ethel Michelle Strawter, a 59-year-old woman, was found deceased in a home on Wilson Street on Sunday, February 27th. The quiet of the evening was broken when Tift County deputies responded to a call and discovered Ms. Strawter with a fatal gunshot wound.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The investigation into her death quickly progressed, and within days, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which had been called in to assist the Tift County Sheriff's Office, announced an arrest. On March 1, 2022, authorities took 68-year-old Willie Goodman of Tifton into custody. Goodman was subsequently charged with felony murder and aggravated assault in connection with Strawter's death.
Following his arrest, Goodman was booked into the Tift County Jail. At the time of the initial reports, the investigation was described as active and ongoing. An autopsy was scheduled to be performed at the GBI Crime Lab in Atlanta to officially determine the cause and manner of death. Information regarding a motive or the relationship between Strawter and Goodman was not immediately released to the public. The subsequent legal proceedings and the final outcome of the charges against Willie Goodman have not been detailed in publicly available online sources.
