In a quiet home on Mitchell Road in Warrenton, Georgia, a grim discovery was made on March 4, 2015. Responding to a call about an unresponsive person, Warren County sheriff's deputies and Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents entered the residence to find the bodies of 47-year-old Barry Johnson and 28-year-old Tenecia Posley. Both had been fatally shot. A child, who did not belong to either victim, was also found alive inside the home.
The shocking double homicide set in motion an intense investigation that would eventually lead to the prosecution of those responsible.
The investigation into the deaths of Johnson and Posley stretched over several months. Finally, in November 2015, authorities announced the arrests of two men from the nearby city of Thomson. Donovan Fitts, then 22 years old, and Jermanique V. Franklin, 24 years old at the time, were taken into custody. A third individual, Deaundre Ross, was also implicated in the crime. The arrests brought a sense of relief to the community, which had been on edge since the brutal slayings.
The subsequent legal proceedings revealed a harrowing sequence of events. Prosecutors laid out a case against the three men, detailing their alleged involvement in the home invasion and murders. In late 2017, the case went to trial. After hearing the evidence, a jury found Donovan Fitts and Jermanique V. Franklin guilty. Fitts was convicted on a multitude of charges, including two counts of malice murder, felony murder, burglary, false imprisonment, armed robbery, and home invasion. Franklin was found guilty of two counts of felony murder, burglary, and armed robbery. The third defendant, Deaundre Ross, was acquitted of all charges. For their roles in the deaths of Barry Johnson and Tenecia Posley, both Fitts and Franklin were sentenced to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole.
