Crime

Court upholds murder conviction in Cobb Co. case

Monday, September 10th, 2012, 4:26pm

Court upholds murder conviction in Cobb Co. case

ATLANTA -- The Georgia Supreme Court has unanimously upheld the conviction and life prison sentence for a Douglasville man convicted of stabbing and beating his 16-year-old girlfriend to death in suburban Atlanta.

The court announced the decision involving Matthew Frederick Wilkins on Monday.

The January 2008 killing of Marlisa Wells happened after she confided that she was pregnant and wanted to keep the baby. Wells believed she was pregnant, though an autopsy revealed that she wasn't.

In 2010, Cobb County Superior Court Judge Tain Kell called the slaying of Wells "gruesome" and "brutal" before sentencing Wilkins to life plus 20 years.

Authorities say Wilkins cornered his girlfriend in a basement bathroom, where he stabbed her repeatedly, slammed her head into a toilet tank and drove a fork into her back.

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Police: Woman killed by live-in boyfriend

Submitted by Associated Press

Monday, July 9th, 2012, 6:31am

Police: Woman killed by live-in boyfriend

MABLETON, Ga. -- Police say a 45-year-old woman in Mableton has been killed by her live-in boyfriend.

Cobb County police said Sunday they sent to a home overnight where they found Janice Oates dead from an apparent gunshot wound.

Her live-in boyfriend, Thomas Schwartz, has been arrested and charged with murder. Authorities have not released a motive in the case.

Neighbors reported hearing what they initially thought was a firecracker. Lorinda Church said Oates ran into a Dairy Queen restaurant where the slain woman worked and yelled that his girlfriend had been shot.

Schwartz was being held without bond Sunday at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center. It was not immediately clear whether he had a defense attorney.

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Police looking for armed robbery suspect

Submitted by Beth Sawicki, Where U Live Producer

Wednesday, June 20th, 2012, 11:41am

Police looking for armed robbery suspect

MABLETON, Ga. -- Cobb County Police are looking for a man suspected of robbing a local business Tuesday night.

The robbery happened shortly after 10 p.m. at the Royal Vending Company on Veterans Memorial Highway in Mableton, according to Cobb County Police spokesman Sgt. Dana Pierce.

Pierce said a female employee told investigators that she was alone in the business when she heard a knock on the door. She opened the door, and the suspect forced his way inside and demanded cash, which she gave him, according to investigators.

The suspect left the business in a gold "long" car, possibly a Cadillac, Pierce said.

The victim, who was not hurt, described the suspect as a black man in his late teens or early 20s. He was about 5-feet-7-inches tall, had a medium build and wore his hair in dreadlocks. He was also armed with a handgun, Pierce said.

Anyone with information in this case is asked to call Cobb County Police at 770-499-3945.

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2 arrested in fatal shooting

Submitted by Beth Sawicki, Where U Live Producer

Wednesday, June 13th, 2012, 7:14am

AUSTELL, Ga. -- Cobb County Police have arrested two teenagers in connection with a fatal shooting over the weekend.

The two Mableton residents -- Brandon Jamal Hindsman and Rayshawn Ramell Rouse, both 18 -- were taken into custody Tuesday afternoon.

They are charged with murder and aggravated assault in the death of 20-year-old Joseph Owens of Douglasville. Cobb County Police spokesman Sgt. Dana Pierce said Owens was shot at the West Chase apartment complex in Austell on Friday; he managed to run to the Marathon gas station on Six Flags Drive, where he collapsed. Owens was later pronounced dead at Grady Memorial Hospital.

Hindsman and Rouse are being held without bond at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center.

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Teen arrested for shooting, killing man

Submitted by Beth Sawicki, Where U Live Producer

Tuesday, May 1st, 2012, 10:56am

MABLETON, Ga. -- Cobb County Police have arrested an 18-year-old Atlanta man for shooting and killing another man at an apartment complex.

The shooting happened at around 3:30 p.m. Monday at the Mableton Reserve apartments on Mableton Parkway.

Responding officers found 41-year-old Ricardo Reese dead from several gunshot wounds, lying just inside the back door of one of the units.

Witnesses gave police a description of the suspect, which allowed officers to catch him within minutes of the shooting and identify him as Darius Dionne Oliver, according to Cobb County Police spokesman Sgt. Dana Pierce.

Oliver is being held without bond in the Cobb County Detention Center on charges of murder, aggravated assault, burglary and firearm possession.

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Henry PD awarded grant to end violence against women

Submitted by HenryCountyComm on Thursday, February 2nd, 1:00 pm

Henry County- Violence against women is on the agenda of the Henry County Police Department. The Henry County Board of Commissioners approved acceptance of a 25 percent matching grant in the amount of $246,833 from the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council to be used by the Henry County Police Department for its Stop Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) program. The action came at the regular board meeting earlier this month.

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