Police: Five bodies found in Georgia house fire were shot

Published 1:45 pm Friday, May 20, 2016

MOULTRIE, Ga. — Investigators have concluded that the bodies of five young-adults discovered in the remains of a Georgia house destroyed by fire on Sunday died not as a result of the fire but from gunshot wounds. 

The Georgia Bureau Investigation headed up the five-day investigation into the deaths of the four men and one woman, all in their 20s, found in a home where the now-gutted wood frame sits about 220 feet off the roadway in a pecan orchard outside Moultrie, a community 40 miles north of the Florida border. 

On Thursday the GBI arrested 24-year-old Norman Park, Georgia man Jeffrey Alan Peacock in connection with the slayings. Peacock is charged with five counts of felony murder and one count of arson, though no motive has been released. 

“The victims were shot inside of their residence by Peacock, who set fire to the house in an attempt to conceal the crimes,” the agency said in a Thursday afternoon news release.

Killed were Jonathan Garrett Edwards, Ramsey Jones Pidcock and Aaron Reid Williams, all 21; 20-year old Alicia Brooke Norman; and Jordan Shane Croft, 22.

Peacock was one of three people to call in a report of the fire, about a minute after an unknown caller notified authorities of the blaze.

According to Colquitt County, Georgia Sheriff’s Office reports, Peacock told the first sheriff’s deputy to arrive at the scene that he had been at the house with his friends and left to get breakfast for everyone. At the time, he said that he was gone about an hour and when he returned the house was burning.

The Moultrie community is now mourning the loss of the five with a candlelight vigil planned for Friday. 

“If you were sad or depressed, just go hang out with Reid for a little bit (and) you would be laughing in no time,” said Shelby Bush of her cousin, Williams. “You only have to look at his Facebook page to see how much he is loved and missed.”

Mauldin writes for the Moultrie, Georgia Observer.