In the early morning hours of May 15, 2020, a passing motorist discovered a grim scene on a rural road in Social Circle, Georgia. The bodies of 27-year-old James Robert Evans and 32-year-old Jaymie Whitlock were found lying outside a metal gate along Thurman Baccus Road. Both victims had sustained apparent gunshot wounds and were pronounced deceased at the scene by emergency medical services.
Investigators believe they were killed at that location.
The subsequent investigation by the Social Circle Police Department and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation revealed that Evans and Whitlock had been taken from a residence in nearby Monroe, Georgia, and driven to the location where their bodies were later found. The investigation, which involved more than a dozen agencies, led to the identification and arrest of four suspects in connection with the double homicide. One of the individuals taken into custody was known to the victims.
Authorities announced the arrests of 20-year-old Tommy Webb of Athens, 23-year-old Antavius Teazia Wilcox of Savannah, 26-year-old Omar Marsh of Gainesville, and 36-year-old Elicia Rivera, also of Gainesville. The charges brought against the four suspects were extensive and varied. Webb and Wilcox faced charges including murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, and violation of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act.
Marsh was charged with party to a crime of murder, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and violation of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act. Rivera was charged with party to a crime of murder. At the time of his arrest in the Social Circle case, Wilcox was already being held in the Chatham County jail for an unrelated murder that occurred in Savannah in April 2020. Webb, Marsh, and Rivera were booked into the Walton County Jail. Authorities indicated that additional charges were anticipated at the time of indictment.
