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Manhunt Underway in DeKalb Park; Search for Suspect Linked to Cobb Slayings
WSB-TV/DT - Atlanta ^ | 11.7.03

Posted on 11/07/2003 7:54:12 AM PST by mhking

DUNWOODY -- Law enforcement authorities from Cobb and DeKalb counties are currently searching a Dunwoody park for a man who could be a suspect in the slayings earlier this week of two real estate agents.

Police have blocked a black Dodge Durango on Cherring Lane near Peeler Road in Dunwoody and were searching a nearby park, a nearby resident said.

Authorities have not yet confirmed that the man they are looking for is the suspect in the killings of Lori Brown and Cynthia Williams but authorities have said repeatedly that they wanted to question the driver of a black Dodge truck in connection with the slayings.

The manhunt, which included SWAT officers, police helicopters and police dogs, was underway even as the family of one of the victims was preparing to hold the funeral for the slain woman.

The service for Brown, 21, was scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Trinity Chapel Church of God in Powder Springs.

A builder found her body and that of Williams, 33, on Monday in the Oakwind subdivision sales office. Their cars were still parked outside the building.

Arrangements for Williams' funeral have not been finalized, but family members say she is expected to be buried in her hometown of Covington, La.

Atlanta area real estate agents received an e-mail Tuesday from the Atlanta Board of Realtors urging them to take precautions.

Investigators want to talk to a balding, heavy-set man in his 30s seen driving a black sport utility vehicle in the area before the women were killed.

Morrison Homes, the developer of the subdivision, is offering a $50,000 reward for information in the killings. Anyone with information was asked to call 770-499-3945. The killings stunned neighbors of the upscale subdivision. Many of the residents said they knew the two women.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Georgia
KEYWORDS: doublemurder; manhunt; metroatlanta; suspect
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Oh, and I currently have three lookouts on ladders strategically placed around my house. While they're watching out for this guy for me, they are also installing new gutters and downspouts. Doing my part for the economy.
21 posted on 11/07/2003 10:07:39 AM PST by FreedomPoster (this space intentionally blank)
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To: FreedomPoster
Excellent..spare one to cover my house and make sure the perp is not hiding in the leaves in my gutters by removing said leaves.
22 posted on 11/07/2003 10:09:53 AM PST by doodad
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To: FreedomPoster; .45MAN
Locked and loaded.

Good. I have no doubt that you will protect yourself and your family.

23 posted on 11/07/2003 10:10:29 AM PST by dansangel (*Visualize No Democrats*)
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To: mhking
I expect that Peachtree Middle School and Chesnut Elementary are in lockdown (they are *right* *next* to that park), as wells as Dunwoody High School and the elementary school at Chamblee-Dunwoody and Peeler (can't remember the names). All of these schools are DeKalb County, and all are closer than those Fulton schools.
24 posted on 11/07/2003 10:11:42 AM PST by FreedomPoster (this space intentionally blank)
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To: doodad
That's why I'm changing my gutters - they were full of leaves.

Well, they were also 25+ years old and rusting through, too, but they were full of leaves.
25 posted on 11/07/2003 10:12:51 AM PST by FreedomPoster (this space intentionally blank)
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To: dansangel; .45MAN
Not that I had to get up and do anything to accomplish that, BTW. ;-)
26 posted on 11/07/2003 10:13:40 AM PST by FreedomPoster (this space intentionally blank)
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To: FreedomPoster
I did the same last year when I put up new gutters. Didn't empty them for a year LOL those things were nasty. And heavy too! Anymore on this? I am at the office, where there is no shower.
27 posted on 11/07/2003 10:36:28 AM PST by doodad
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To: doodad
Haven't seen anything new. I may cruise by there in a hour or so, when I go to pick up Ray.
28 posted on 11/07/2003 10:37:52 AM PST by FreedomPoster (this space intentionally blank)
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To: FreedomPoster; .45MAN
Not that I had to get up and do anything to accomplish that, BTW. ;-)

LOL - we know you well enough to know that's true. :-)

29 posted on 11/07/2003 10:43:33 AM PST by dansangel (*Visualize No Democrats*)
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To: mhking
I didn't expect him to be headed MY way--he still had a few more hours of driving until he got to Canada:

Murder suspect captured in Wisconsin
Cobb police hope for speedy return of fugitive accused in killings of 2 real estate agents

By BILL MONTGOMERY
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer

alt
alt
Pardons and Paroles
Stacey Ian Humphreys

alt alt
Recent coverage:
•  2 sales agents found dead
•  Slain women were shot, police say
•  Agents' killer a stranger, police believe
•  Slayings raise fears of sales agents
•  Tips pour in on saleswomen's slayings
•  Answers scarce in double killing

alt
alt
alt
Detectives from Cobb County are being sent to Wisconsin to interview an ex-convict wanted in the murders of two local real estate agents.

Either U.S. marshals or the Cobb County sheriff's department will return Stacey Ian Humphreys to Georgia "as soon as practical, assuming he does not fight extradition," Cobb police Cpl. Brody Staud said.

Wisconsin police chased the fugitive on Interstate 94 and caught him early Saturday on Highway 83 about 60 miles south of Milwaukee.

Cobb County police have identified Humphreys as the primary suspect in the shooting deaths of Lori K. Brown, 21, of Powder Springs, and Cynthia Williams, 33, of Acworth. Their bodies were found Monday in a model home in the Oakwind subdivision in Powder Springs. A neighbor reported seeing a black sport utility vehicle in the area.

Brown's fiance said he sighed with relief Saturday when a cousin called him with the news of Humphreys' capture. "It's good news and I'm so thankful for all the people who gave law enforcement information about where this guy might be and the vehicles he was seen in," said Johnnie Tuggle, 23, a Cobb County police recruit.

"His picture's been all over the news, and people were paying attention," he added.

Staud said the U.S. Marshals Service was instrumental in "tracking Humphreys for us during his flight through electronic means through the vehicle he was driving, I believe a Jeep Cherokee." Staud refused to provide details. "I'm not getting into specifics on how it was done."

The pursuit stepped up Friday when DeKalb County police found Humphreys' black Durango sport utility vehicle in a Dunwoody neighborhood.

Humphreys bolted when approached by police seeking to question him in the shooting deaths. He was spotted about 30 minutes later and roughly a mile away getting into a champagne or silver-colored Toyota Camry driven by a woman, said Maj. Robert Pittman of the Cobb County police.

Police stopped a number of similar cars Friday, but did not find Humphreys.

The funeral service for Lori Brown was held Friday in Powder Springs.

The funeral for Cynthia Williams will be held Monday in her hometown of Covington, La.

Humphreys, 30, has a record of felony convictions dating back to 1993, including burglary, auto theft and forgery. He was one of more than 100 people in the metro area who own vehicles similar to the one spotted at the subdivision where the women were killed, Pittman said. Humphreys has been out of prison on parole since October 2002.

 

 The Associated Press contributed to this article.

30 posted on 11/08/2003 9:13:21 AM PST by Catspaw
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To: Catspaw
Staud said the U.S. Marshals Service was instrumental in "tracking Humphreys for us during his flight through electronic means through the vehicle he was driving, I believe a Jeep Cherokee." Staud refused to provide details. "I'm not getting into specifics on how it was done."

Now THIS is interesting...cell phone? Lojack? OnStar?
31 posted on 11/08/2003 9:26:55 AM PST by SpeakLittle_ThinkMuch ("If you don't read the paper, you are uninformed. If you do read the paper, you are misinformed."...)
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To: Catspaw; mhking; FreedomPoster; dansangel; .45MAN
"Wisconsin police chased the fugitive on Interstate 94 and caught him early Saturday on Highway 83 about 60 miles south of Milwaukee."

Good job Wisconsin law enforcement.

Imo..Humphreys stands a good chance of a date with the needle.

32 posted on 11/08/2003 9:38:19 AM PST by Vigilantcitizen
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To: Vigilantcitizen
My eyes widened when I checked the AJC and found the story. His route, if I'm guessing correctly, would've taken him into Milwaukee, where he'd hook up with I-43 to Green Bay, then north on 41-141 into the UP of Michigan and into Canada.

Good work to the Wisconsin cops--that area of I-94 (right near the state line with Illinois) would be patrolled by the sheriff's department (probably either Kenosha or Racine county) and the Wisconsin Highway Patrol.

And I can tell you that Georgia boy had to have been mighty cold--it hit the teens last night.

33 posted on 11/08/2003 9:45:11 AM PST by Catspaw
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To: SpeakLittle_ThinkMuch; Vigilantcitizen
Good catch. Hmmmmm.
34 posted on 11/08/2003 9:54:18 AM PST by FreedomPoster (this space intentionally blank)
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To: SpeakLittle_ThinkMuch; FreedomPoster
"Staud said the U.S. Marshals Service was instrumental in "tracking Humphreys for us during his flight through electronic means through the vehicle he was driving, I believe a Jeep Cherokee." Staud refused to provide details. "I'm not getting into specifics on how it was done."

I'd bet twenty it was a cell phone, probably a Nextel with the radio. Most newer models come with gps locator transmitters.

35 posted on 11/08/2003 10:02:21 AM PST by Vigilantcitizen
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To: SpeakLittle_ThinkMuch; FreedomPoster
Ahem...

Cellphone betrays double slaying suspect

36 posted on 11/09/2003 5:25:32 AM PST by Vigilantcitizen
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To: Vigilantcitizen
You nailed it.
37 posted on 11/09/2003 5:49:15 AM PST by FreedomPoster (this space intentionally blank)
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To: Catspaw
"And I can tell you that Georgia boy had to have been mighty cold--it hit the teens last night."

I know what ya mean, this Georgia boy spent a year at Great Lakes attending gun and missle system school. Those December midnight to four parking lot watches were hell.

38 posted on 11/09/2003 6:19:47 AM PST by Vigilantcitizen
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To: Vigilantcitizen
December is positively balmy compared to the upper Midwest January cold snap. Then it's in the teens--BELOW zero.

39 posted on 11/09/2003 8:19:26 AM PST by Catspaw
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To: Vigilantcitizen
Let's just post that here:

Cellphone betrays double slaying suspect
Humphreys was tracked all night before capture

By DON PLUMMER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Dan Koenings / Special
Deputies investigate the scene outside Hartford Memorial Hospital in Wisconsin where suspect Stacey Ian Humphreys was apprehended Saturday after a multistate pursuit.

Recent coverage:
2 sales agents found dead
Slain women were shot, police say
Agents' killer a stranger, police believe
Slayings raise fears of sales agents
Tips pour in on saleswomen's slayings
Answers scarce in double killing
Humphreys has decade of legal trouble
New father witnesses capture

Federal agents using sophisticated technology tracked a man being sought for the murder of two Cobb County real estate agents from Atlanta to a community near Milwaukee, where he was arrested early Saturday after a high-speed chase.

Stacey Ian Humphreys is charged in the double homicide and robbery Monday of Lori K. Brown and Cynthia Williams, whose bodies were found in the sales office of their out-of-the-way west Cobb subdivision.

Humphreys was arrested in a hospital parking lot in Hartford, Wis., just northwest of Milwaukee, after Wisconsin police chased him about 30 miles. Humphreys, 30, who has a lengthy criminal record, was first identified as a suspect in the deaths after fleeing police Friday morning in DeKalb County.

After he escaped a manhunt in DeKalb, officers of the U.S. Marshals Service in Atlanta and several other cities tracked Humphreys electronically by locating his cellphone as he drove north from metro Atlanta through Tennessee, Kentucky and Illinois before he was apprehended in Wisconsin, investigators said.

"Investigators would like to thank the United States marshals for helping them track Humphreys all night," said Cobb police Cpl. Brody Staud.

Staud refused to give details of how Humphreys was traced.

After his arrest Saturday, Humphreys was taken to the Waukesha County Jail. He will appear in Waukesha County Intake Court on Monday on charges related to the chase in Wisconsin, officials said.

A hearing on returning Humphreys to Georgia will be held later this week, said Kathy Watkins, a spokeswoman for Cobb District Attorney Pat Head. If Humphreys fights extradition, Gov. Sonny Perdue will send a "governor's warrant" to his counterpart in Wisconsin, Watkins said.

Lead Cobb homicide Detective Eddie Herman and Detective Bud Sears flew Saturday from Atlanta to Milwaukee in hopes of talking to Humphreys, Staud said.

Cobb police took out murder and armed robbery warrants against Humphreys late Friday.

A booking photo shows Stacey Ian Humphreys, captured Saturday in Hartford, Wis.

Humphreys matched the description of a heavyset, balding man in his 30s who was seen driving a black Dodge Durango that was parked in the driveway of the Oakwind subdivision sales office just before the women's bodies were discovered. He was tracked throughout the night Friday by federal agents, who entered the case at the request of Cobb police.

'Small . . . comfort'

Brown's fiancé expressed relief Saturday at the news of Humphreys' capture. Johnnie Tuggle, 23, a Cobb County police recruit, said he gave "a little sigh of relief" when he learned Humphreys had been apprehended.

"It is a small amount of comfort," Ted Williams said from Louisiana, where he had traveled Friday for his wife's funeral Monday in her hometown of Covington, La.

The funeral service for Lori Brown was held Friday in Powder Springs.

After Saturday's arrest, Oakwind residents and co-workers of the slain women placed flowers at a makeshift memorial at the mailbox outside the model home. A blue crucifix had been placed on the mailbox and a funeral spray of white flowers was hung on the front door.

Susan Dirr, who has lived in the Oakwind subdivision for three years, expressed relief that a suspect had been arrested. "We can breathe a little easier," Dirr said. Across the street, Donna Flemming said hearing the news was like receiving a pardon from the prison of fear neighbors had lived in for the past five days.

"Maybe the kids can go back on the street," Flemming said as she paused from planting bulbs. "But still, you just feel so sorry for the families that they still have to go through the trial. It will always be with them."

Ceci Osburn, president of the 1,800-member Cobb Association of Realtors, welcomed the arrest.

"I'm certainly thrilled by the news, if that's the right term to use about such a tragedy," Osburn said during a telephone interview from San Francisco, where she was attending the National Association of Realtors. "It is quite amazing that we have the ability to track someone across state lines and have the joint effort of all police groups to make the capture."

For many real estate agents the slayings were a safety wake-up call, said Lane Jones, training director for Prudential Georgia Realty. "Obviously there is a sense of relief that someone has been captured and charged, although this tragedy is causing us to be concerned and aware of our surroundings," Jones said.

Humphrey's grandmother, with whom he has lived since being released from prison in October 2002, said her grandson was a good person but that she didn't know anything about the crime he is charged with committing.

"I don't know anything, I'm sorry," said Imogene C. Jordan when she was reached Saturday by telephone at her home in Dunwoody. Asked to describe her grandson, Jordan, 72, said he "was a very private person" and declined to add more.

The chase that ended in Humphreys' capture began early Friday when he bolted from his Dunwoody home.

Dozens of police officers, two helicopters and a tracking dog searched the area after the 270-pound man outran two Cobb detectives who approached after seeing Humphreys loading suitcases into his Durango.

Humphreys was spotted about 30 minutes later being picked up by a woman driving a silver or champagne-colored 2001 Toyota Camry, police said. Humphreys later rented the silver Jeep Cherokee that he was driving when captured. The woman who aided Humphreys has not been identified but likely will face charges, Staud said.

Out-of-the-way site

Evidence that detectives collected from Humphreys' Durango and his grandmother's home led them to formally charge him with the murders. The warrants state that the women were killed at 12:45 p.m. Monday and say that Brown, 21, and Williams, 33, were shot with a pistol. The warrant does not specify what property was taken after the two were killed.

Police have said they do not know whether Humphreys had prior contact with either victim. Nor have police said if a motive has been established for the crime.

A builder working in Oakwind found the women's bodies about 1:45 p.m. Monday. The builder reported seeing a black Durango in the driveway when he went into his office in the basement of the model home shortly before finding the women dead.

A resident of the neighborhood gave police a description of the car and its driver.

Brown and Williams had attended a weekly sales meeting at their company's headquarters in Alpharetta before opening the sales office about noon, Tuggle said.

Before Humphreys was identified as a suspect in the slayings, lead detective Herman said that whoever killed the pair probably had previously visited the subdivision. Herman said he based his surmise on the fact that Oakwind is well off major thoroughfares, hidden away on side streets near the Paulding County line.

"I suppose, theoretically, somebody could have just been randomly driving around," Herman said Tuesday, "but our working theory is that he had some knowledge because it was back out of the way."

Humphreys, who has worked as an electrician since his release from prison, has a record of felony convictions dating back to 1993, including burglary, auto theft and forgery. He first came to the attention of detectives investigating the real estate agents' slayings as one of hundreds of people in the metro area who own black Dodge Durangos, said Maj. Robert Pittman of the Cobb County police.

After talking to Humphreys on the phone Tuesday or Wednesday, Pittman said, detectives asked his parole officer to call him in for a meeting Friday at 8 a.m., which he did not attend.

When Humphreys did not show up for the scheduled meeting with his parole officer, DeKalb County police were dispatched to his grandmother's home. Before the DeKalb officers arrived, the two Cobb police detectives staking out the home on Cherring Drive saw Humphreys loading suitcases.

As they approached Humphreys, he ran, police said, disappearing into the neighborhood's wooded lots. He was talking into a cellphone as he fled, police added.

No violence on record

Humphreys' prior convictions are for nonviolent crimes, said Heather Hedrick, spokeswoman for the state Board of Pardons and Paroles.

"He was a property crime offender with no history of any sort of assault or violence in his past at all," Hedrick said. Humphreys was released after satisfying the condition that he learn a trade while in prison.

Since his parole he had regularly attended monthly meetings with his parole officer, Hedrick said. His parole was scheduled to end in January.

Humphreys pleaded guilty in October 1993 to burglary, breaking into a car and stealing another car. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to serve three years, with the remaining seven to be served on probation, according to a spokeswoman for the state Board of Pardons and Paroles.

While on probation in March 1997, Humphreys was arrested and returned to prison for impersonating an Atlanta police officer at the Town Center at Cobb mall in Kennesaw. Arresting officers found that the gun he was openly carrying had been stolen during the 1993 car break-in. His probation was revoked.

The parole board voted in 1998 to conditionally release Humphreys in 2002, 15 months before his sentence was to end. He was released in October 2002 to live with his grandmother.

Humphreys had not violated the conditions of his current parole until he failed to show up for the meeting with his parole officer Friday.

40 posted on 11/10/2003 6:55:31 PM PST by FreedomPoster (this space intentionally blank)
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