In May of 2019, coworkers of Billy Belle grew concerned when the dedicated 52-year-old employee failed to show up for his job at Griffin Concrete in Valdosta, Georgia, a company he had worked at for over three decades. Their concern led them to his home on Harter Avenue on May 20th, where they made a grim discovery. Belle was found deceased inside his residence, having sustained a fatal gunshot wound. Authorities were immediately called to the scene, and the investigation into his death began, with law enforcement quickly determining it to be a homicide. Belle, who lived by himself, was last seen alive around noon on the Saturday prior to the discovery of his body.
The investigation into the death of Billy Belle involved numerous interviews with witnesses and a thorough examination of both physical and digital evidence. This police work eventually led to a break in the case. In August of 2019, the Lowndes County Sheriff's Office announced the arrests of two individuals in connection with the murder. A man named Dashay March and a woman named Whitlee Seagram were taken into custody and both were initially charged with murder. The investigation had pieced together a narrative that led them to suspect March and Seagram were responsible for Belle's untimely death.
In January of 2022, the legal proceedings against one of the accused came to a resolution. Dashay Antwan March, who had been facing a murder charge, entered into a negotiated plea agreement. Instead of going to trial for murder, March pleaded to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter. As a result of his plea, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Additional charges that had been brought against him, which included firearms offenses and kidnapping, were not prosecuted as part of the deal. March was also to be given credit for the time he had already served in jail since his arrest in 2019. At the time of his sentencing for the death of Billy Belle, March was also facing a separate murder charge in a different county.
