On August 31, 1974, the lives of 29-year-old Juanita Akins and her husband of just twenty days, 38-year-old Joseph Ronald Akins, were brought to a violent and tragic end in a secluded, developing subdivision in Bibb County, Georgia. The couple had been lured to the location under the pretense of installing a television antenna. Upon their arrival, they were ambushed in their car by assailants who fired a shotgun at close range, killing them both.
The investigation into the double
homicide soon unraveled a sinister plot orchestrated by Ronald Akins's ex-wife, Rebecca Turpin, her new husband, John Eldon Smith, and an associate, John Maree. The motive behind the brutal killings was a scheme to collect on Ronald Akins's life insurance policy, which was valued at $53,000 and named Rebecca and her children as beneficiaries. Smith, an insurance salesman who at times used the alias Anthony Isalldo Michetti, reportedly believed the murders would serve as an entry into organized crime as a hitman.
In October 1974, law enforcement arrested Rebecca Turpin, John Eldon Smith, and John Maree in connection with the murders. During the subsequent legal proceedings, Maree turned state's witness, providing crucial testimony against his co-conspirators. He detailed how he and Smith had driven from Miami to Macon to carry out the attack. According to Maree, the original plan was to subdue Ronald Akins and poison him, but Juanita's unexpected presence complicated their scheme, leading them to use a shotgun instead. While Smith and Maree were in Georgia, Rebecca remained in Miami.
Following separate trials, both John Eldon Smith and Rebecca Turpin were convicted on two counts of murder. The juries in both cases returned sentences of death. John Maree, for his cooperation with the prosecution, received a life sentence. Rebecca Turpin's death sentence was later commuted to life in prison. John Eldon Smith's appeals were ultimately exhausted, and on December 15, 1983, he was executed by electrocution, marking the first execution in Georgia after the reinstatement of the death penalty.
