In the small town of Andersonville, Georgia, a grim discovery was made on Friday, January 19, 2018. Inside a home on Erie Street, family members found the bodies of 53-year-old Mark Alan Abbott and his 77-year-old mother, Ruthe Bracknell. Both had been shot to death in what appeared to be a senseless act of violence with no immediate motive. The Macon County Sheriff's Office, seeking assistance, called in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to unravel the tragic events that had unfolded.
The investigation into the double homicide soon connected to a wider, more violent crime spree. A few days after the bodies were discovered, a woman was found on a street in nearby Montezuma, nude, covered in blood, with her throat cut and multiple stab wounds. She survived the attack and identified her assailant as 41-year-old Quentin Sanders. This brutal and seemingly unprovoked assault provided law enforcement with a crucial lead. Sanders turned himself in to the Montezuma Police Department shortly after warrants were issued for his arrest in connection with the stabbing.
As the Georgia Bureau of Investigation delved deeper, they uncovered evidence linking Sanders to the murders of Abbott and Bracknell. The investigation expanded further, implicating Sanders in a series of violent crimes that had plagued the Macon and Bibb County areas earlier that month. These additional alleged offenses included another murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, carjacking, and even shooting at Mercer University students. In Macon County, Sanders was charged with two counts of murder for the deaths of Mark Abbott and Ruthe Bracknell, and one count of aggravated assault. The Bibb County Sheriff's Office also leveled a host of charges against him, including murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, aggravated assault, and hijacking a motor vehicle, painting a picture of a month-long reign of terror that culminated in the tragic deaths in Andersonville.
