In a tragedy that struck the heart of a Covington, Georgia family, 41-year-old David Gay was found deceased inside his Avery Drive home, the victim of a fatal shooting. The grim discovery was made on the evening of May 13, 2025, setting in motion an investigation that would soon center on a member of his own household.
Investigators with the Newton County Sheriff's Office quickly identified Gay's 16-year-old stepson, Jayden Daniel, as the primary suspect in the homicide. It is believed that in the moments following the shooting, Daniel fled the scene in Gay's 2016 Cadillac Escalade. The vehicle was later found abandoned at Denny Dobbs Park, but the teenager was nowhere in sight, sparking a two-month-long manhunt. The search for Daniel, who was considered armed and dangerous, concluded on July 17, 2025, when he was apprehended in DeKalb County by the Newton County Sheriff's Office with the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Service.
The motive behind the tragic event appears to stem from a heated argument between Gay and his stepson on the day of the shooting. According to the boy's mother, Kennethia McKibben-Gay, she had left the house to pick up her daughter after telling both to cool off. In a later conversation with his mother, Daniel alleged that his stepfather had hit him. Following his capture, Jayden Daniel was taken to the Newton County Detention Center and is facing multiple charges, including murder, aggravated assault, theft by taking, and possession of a handgun by a person under 18. He has since been denied bond. This violent episode was the second major tragedy to strike the family, as McKibben-Gay's 19-year-old son, Kendarrius Spear, had been shot and killed during a robbery the previous year.
