Douglas Harper, a 41-year-old White man, was killed on the evening of October 9, 2025, in Epworth, Georgia, a small community in Fannin County. At approximately 7:15 p.m., the Fannin County Sheriff’s Office received a report of shots fired in the 1300 block of Old Epworth Road. Deputies were dispatched to the scene, with officers from the McCaysville Police Department also responding.
When law enforcement arrived, they found Harper lying dead in the front yard of a residence with what authorities described as an apparent gunshot wound.
The circumstances quickly developed into a murder investigation. William Joseph Woods, 58, of Epworth, was still at the scene when officers arrived and was identified by investigators as the person who had shot Harper. Woods was taken into custody at the scene and was subsequently booked into the Fannin County Jail. Authorities did not publicly describe a search for any additional suspects, and the information released by investigators identified Woods as the alleged shooter.
Because of the circumstances surrounding Harper’s death, the Fannin County Sheriff’s Office requested assistance from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation on the same night. GBI agents joined the investigation and announced the following day that Woods had been charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. The combination of charges reflected prosecutors’ allegation that Harper was intentionally and unlawfully shot and that a firearm was used during the commission of the underlying felony. Woods remained incarcerated in the Fannin County Jail following his arrest.
Investigators initially described Harper’s injury as an apparent gunshot wound and said his body would be sent to the GBI Crime Lab for an autopsy. Officials did not immediately release additional forensic details, including the number of times he had been shot or the specific type of firearm involved. Authorities also did not publicly explain what happened immediately before the shooting, whether Harper and Woods had been involved in an argument, or what motive investigators believed may have led to the fatal encounter. News reporting likewise stated that officials had not disclosed how Harper and Woods knew one another.
The GBI indicated that after agents completed their investigation, the case would be forwarded to the Appalachian Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for prosecution. The initial public record therefore established a named defendant and four serious felony charges shortly after Harper’s death, rather than leaving the shooting as an unidentified-suspect homicide. In the online reporting located for this case, no subsequent trial verdict, guilty plea, acquittal, or conviction involving Woods was reported, leaving the publicly documented court outcome unresolved beyond the arrest and charges announced after the shooting.
