On a late February evening in 2020, the tranquility of a home on Preakness Trail in Jefferson, Georgia, was shattered by an act of domestic violence that claimed the life of 40-year-old Stephanie Wade Ellis. A registered nurse and mother, Stephanie was fatally shot in what authorities would later describe as a murder-attempted suicide.
The harrowing incident unfolded on the night of Thursday, February 27, 2020. A 911 call, placed by one of Stephanie's own children, alerted Jackson County deputies to the grim scene. The caller reported that their father had shot their mother before turning the gun on himself. Upon their arrival, law enforcement found both Stephanie and her husband, 44-year-old Ronald Oliver Ellis, with gunshot wounds.
Both were rushed to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville for emergency medical treatment. Stephanie Wade Ellis, however, succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead. Ronald Ellis, who had sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, was listed in critical condition.
The investigation into the shooting was handled by the Jackson County Sheriff's Office with assistance from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's Crime Scene Unit. Sheriff Janis Mangum later confirmed that Ronald Oliver Ellis was the sole suspect in his wife's murder and that he would face criminal charges upon his recovery. The sheriff also revealed that deputies had been called to the couple's residence for domestic violence issues in the past, hinting at a troubled history that preceded the fatal shooting. While some of the couple's children were present in the home at the time of the incident, it was reported that they did not witness the shooting itself.
