Herbert Lee “Buster” Perkinson III, a 49-year-old Black man from Emerson, Georgia, was killed on January 17, 2016, after what investigators described as a targeted abduction connected to his home. Perkinson was remembered by relatives as a devoted father who loved his children and his dogs and was known for making people laugh. Family members said he had experienced trouble earlier in his life but had turned things around and was looking toward a better future. He was one of eight siblings and had two children.
At about 5 a.m. that Sunday, investigators said two men surprised Perkinson and two friends in the driveway of his home in Emerson, in Bartow County. Other reporting described the incident as a home invasion in the 100 block of 11th Street. The men abducted Perkinson and drove away with him. Less than an hour later, at approximately 5:49 a.m., Cherokee County sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of trouble along southbound Interstate 75, just north of Exit 277 and near the Cobb-Cherokee County line. They discovered Perkinson lying along the inside warning lane of the interstate with a gunshot wound to his torso. The location was only a few miles from where he had been taken. He was still alive when emergency personnel reached him and was transported to WellStar Kennestone Hospital, but he died from his injuries there. Later reporting also stated that he had been beaten before being shot and abandoned beside the interstate.
From the beginning, authorities believed the attack was not random. Emerson Police Chief Stan Bradley said investigators believed Perkinson knew his assailants and that he had been specifically targeted because of a disagreement. Police reassured the Emerson community that the killing appeared to be an isolated event and that there was no indication the attackers intended additional violence in the city. As investigators reconstructed Perkinson’s movements before the abduction, they learned that he had traveled to another part of Georgia and returned shortly before he was taken. GBI Special Agent in Charge Greg Ramey later said investigators believed the assailants may have gone to Perkinson’s residence intending to rob and hurt him. Investigators suspected the attackers may have expected to find something of value, failed to obtain what they were looking for, and then retaliated by killing him. However, the GBI later emphasized that investigators did not know of anything actually being taken from Perkinson.
Investigators also examined possible connections involving Perkinson’s dogs. GBI Agent Bahan Rich said Perkinson sold pit bulls and that one avenue being explored involved the underground world of dog fighting. Authorities did not publicly establish that Perkinson himself participated in dog fighting, and the connection was described only as an investigative avenue. Rich said investigators believed the people responsible were very familiar with Perkinson, strengthening the theory that he had been deliberately selected rather than encountered by chance.
For nearly two years investigators had no publicly identified suspects, but in November 2017 the GBI released forensic sketches of two men believed to have been involved in the abduction and killing. One was described as having a medium complexion, being approximately 30 to 40 years old, standing around six feet tall and possibly having a mustache. The second man was described as having a somewhat darker complexion, also being approximately 30 to 40 years old, and possibly standing slightly taller than the first. Investigators believed the men could have connections to Bartow County or the north Cobb County area. The sketches were produced in an effort to generate new leads and identify the men, but authorities did not publicly attach names to either suspect.
Perkinson’s family repeatedly appealed for anyone with information to come forward. His brother Gary McCoy described the killing as senseless and said the family wanted answers before the case faded into a cold case. Years later, those answers had still not arrived. On the fourth anniversary of the killing in January 2020, the GBI said the investigation remained active, while Perkinson’s relatives continued to plead for justice and spoke of the effect his death had on his children and extended family.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation continues to list Perkinson’s death as an unsolved homicide and continues to request information from the public. No suspect is publicly identified by name on the GBI’s current case page, and there has been no publicly announced arrest, criminal charge, trial, or conviction in connection with his kidnapping and murder. The two unidentified men depicted in the forensic sketches remain the principal publicly described suspects in a case investigators have long believed involved people who knew Perkinson and deliberately targeted him.
