In a quiet home in Gray, Georgia, the life of 59-year-old Lamar “Maudie” Brinson Price, Jr. came to a sudden and violent end on November 20, 2021. A graduate of Jones County High School, Price had spent his career working first with his father and later for CNC Electrical. His life was cut short by a single gunshot to the head.
The initial call to the Jones County Sheriff's Office on that Saturday morning was not an emergency call, but a request for a welfare check. The mother of 73-year-old Sharon Strawder Wood had phoned, relaying a chilling conversation in which her daughter claimed to have shot her boyfriend. When deputies arrived at Wood’s residence, they found Price deceased inside. Wood was also present at the scene and, following her initial statements to the officers, was taken into custody.
Investigators learned that Price and Wood had been in a relationship for two decades, and there were no prior reports of domestic violence between them. Price maintained a separate residence on Highway 49. In the course of their investigation, authorities ruled out both suicide and an accidental shooting. Based on the evidence and Wood's own admissions, she was charged with one count of murder. She openly admitted to pulling the trigger and shooting Price, though a clear motive for the act was never established.
The legal proceedings that followed took a different path than a typical murder trial. From early in the investigation, law enforcement officials noted the presence of mental health issues. Wood underwent several mental health evaluations while incarcerated. Though at one point she was deemed competent to stand trial after receiving intensive treatment at a state hospital, her mental state later deteriorated. Ultimately, medical professionals determined that her condition was non-restorable. On January 25, 2024, a judge ruled that Sharon Strawder Wood was incompetent to stand trial. As a result of this ruling, she was placed in the custody of the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities for a term not to exceed a life sentence, with her status to be reviewed annually by the court.
