In a quiet home on a rural highway just outside of Moultrie, Georgia, a horrific scene unfolded on November 8, 2004, leaving a community in shock and a family torn apart. A 3-year-old Hispanic male, Juan Carlos Resendez, was found murdered alongside four adults in what investigators would later describe as an execution-style slaying connected to an international drug ring. The other victims were his father, Jaime Cruz Resendez, 25; his mother, Katrina “Tina” Resendez, 29; his maternal grandmother, Betty Faye Watts, 50; and the family's housekeeper, Liliana Alegria Aguilar, 30.
The grim discovery was made when the older children of the household, then ages 7 and 8, returned from school to find the bodies. The young boy, Juan Carlos, was later found in a bedroom, hidden between the mattress and headboard. His mother and the housekeeper had been bound. The motive for the brutal killings began to surface as it was revealed that Jaime and Katrina Resendez had been acting as informants for law enforcement after a significant marijuana arrest the previous year. Their cooperation had reportedly led to the arrests of several drug dealers in Texas, placing them in grave danger.
The investigation into the five deaths eventually led to the arrests of three individuals: Jerry Johnny Thompson, Alexander Woods II, and Wilma Ann Yvonne Stover. A fourth person implicated in the crime, Anthony Davis, was found shot to death in a different county in January 2005 before he could be brought to trial. The case against the remaining suspects slowly came together, with prosecutors initially seeking the death penalty for Thompson.
Jerry Johnny Thompson ultimately avoided the death penalty by pleading guilty to five counts of murder in 2011. A crucial part of his plea agreement was his testimony against Alexander Woods. During Woods' trial in May 2013, Thompson recounted the events of that fatal day, stating that Woods and Davis had been sent to the Resendez home over a drug debt owed to a supplier. He testified that when he arrived at the house, members of the family were already dead, and Woods was searching for money. Thompson claimed Woods later admitted to shooting 3-year-old Juan Carlos because the child had looked at him and could have potentially identified him.
Based in large part on Thompson's testimony, Alexander Woods was convicted on 15 counts, including five counts of malice murder. He was sentenced to five consecutive life terms in prison. Jerry Johnny Thompson was sentenced to five concurrent life sentences, which he would begin serving after completing a separate 20-year federal sentence on drug charges. Wilma Ann Yvonne Stover was also charged in connection with the killings. The tragic case highlighted the brutal realities of the drug trade and the devastating impact it had on one South Georgia family.
