In the quiet mountains of Blairsville, Georgia, a grim discovery was made on March 16, 2015, marking the tragic end for two residents. Inside a home on Highway 325, authorities found the bodies of 52-year-old Anthony Poat, a male, and 60-year-old Marilyn Freeman Laughlin. Both had been shot, shattering the peace of their rural community. The pair had purchased the home together the previous year, relocating from Murphy, North Carolina.
The investigation quickly zeroed in on a suspect: Marilyn's son, 35-year-old Cody Lee Vestal, who had been living at the residence with his mother and Poat. The chain of events leading to his capture began to unfold when police in Dayton, Tennessee, were alerted by a local medical center where Vestal had been admitted. In his vehicle, which was registered to the Blairsville address, officers discovered a firearm. This crucial piece of evidence linked him to the scene of the crime.
As Union County sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the Georgia home for a welfare check, they uncovered the double homicide. Meanwhile, Vestal was transferred to a hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was there that he was placed under arrest for the murders. Following his release from the hospital, Vestal was extradited back to Union County, where he confessed to killing both his mother and Anthony Poat.
The motive for the killings appeared to stem from a volatile dispute between Vestal and Poat. Family members later revealed that on the Saturday night before the bodies were discovered, Laughlin had mentioned a confrontation between the two men, during which Poat allegedly had to use a gun to de-escalate the situation. After that conversation, no one heard from Laughlin again.
Cody Lee Vestal pleaded guilty to the two counts of murder and was sentenced to life in prison. His life, however, came to an end on February 9, 2016, less than a year after the murders. He died in a fire that was reportedly started in his cell at Valdosta State Prison.
