REBECCA, Ga. (AP) - Georgia authorities on Wednesday arrested a man in connection with a 2002 triple homicide where the victims included a woman eight-and-a-half months pregnant with his child.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced in a news conference that Jason Michael Walker, 47, of Pulaski County, was arrested and charged with murder in the deaths of Tommy Joe Wideman, Deborah Wideman and their daughter, Melissa Wideman.
Investigators said the three adult victims were found inside a burning home in Rebecca, Georgia, in 2002. Walker also is charged with causing the death of Melissa Wideman’s unborn fetus, who was Walker’s biological child, the agency said.
“It’s been a long time, a hard case for everybody. This is a close-knit community,” Turner County Sheriff Andy Hester said in a news conference. “We’ve worked tirelessly with GBI on this case for a long time.”
Hester asked for anyone with information about the case to come forward and to refrain from speculation.
It was not immediately known if Walker has an attorney to comment on his behalf.
The case began on March 22, 2002, when a passing truck driver reported a house on fire in Rebecca. Investigators said in a press conference that firefighters discovered the three dead adults inside the home and that Melissa Wideman, 20, was over eight months pregnant at the time of her death.
Autopsies by the GBI Medical Examiner’s Office found that all three adults had been shot and died prior to the fire.
The GBI said the case was reassigned in December 2014, and a new witness recently came forward and identified a white male leaving the scene of the Wideman residence during the time frame in which the murders occurred.
The Associated Press reported in 2002 that the deaths of the well-known family shook the small community, where homicides were a rare occurrence.
Tommy Joe Wideman had served about 12 years as the chief property appraiser of Turner County and chairman of the county Board of Appraisers in Ashburn. Deborah Wideman owned a bridal services shop. Melissa Wideman had been scheduled for a late April delivery of her baby, a girl she’d already named Abbie, the AP reported in 2002.
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