In the quiet community of Brooklet, Georgia, the life of 53-year-old Bonnie Lanier Rushing was tragically cut short on a Friday afternoon in late October 2020. A beloved wife, mother of two sons, and a retired employee of the Department of Family and Children Services, she was known for her servant's heart and deep involvement in her church and community.
Her death on October 23, 2020, sent shockwaves through the close-knit town, a place where neighbors were like family and doors were often left unlocked.
The perpetrator, Lee Allen Mayhew, a 44-year-old fugitive from Tennessee with outstanding warrants, had no connection to Rushing or the area. The day before the murder, Mayhew had burglarized another home nearby, stealing several firearms. This prompted a search and a warning from law enforcement. In a tragic twist of fate, just hours before she was killed, Rushing had shared a U.S. Marshals Service alert on her own social media page, warning others about the armed and dangerous man in her vicinity. On that Friday afternoon, Mayhew broke into Rushing's home on Stilson Leefield Road. During the encounter, he shot her, leaving her for dead on her front porch. He then stole her GMC Acadia and fled the state.
The investigation quickly pointed to Mayhew. After Rushing's stolen vehicle was tracked to Florida, law enforcement officers in Columbia County, Florida, arrested him without incident the following day, on October 24, 2020. He was held in Florida pending extradition to Georgia to face a litany of charges. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Bulloch County Sheriff's Office confirmed that Mayhew acted alone and that there were no other suspects.
Lee Allen Mayhew's trial began in early 2023. He faced an indictment that included malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, burglary, and multiple counts of theft and firearm possession by a convicted felon. On February 3, 2023, after less than two hours of deliberation, a jury found him guilty on all counts, including the malice murder of Bonnie Rushing. On Valentine's Day, February 14, 2023, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus an additional 55 years, ensuring he would spend the remainder of his life behind bars for the senseless act of violence that took a cherished member from her community.
