An accused methamphetamine trafficker from Hart County is arrested in Elbert County: the Elbert County Sheriff’s Office says 40 year-old Christine Hunter of Hartwell tried to smuggle into the Elbert County Detention Center.
The Coroner’s Office in Stephens County has identified the man whose body was found in a park in Toccoa on Christmas morning: Barrett Cash was 49 years old. There is no word on his cause of death.
There are weapons charges for two men—a father and son—who were arrested in Gainesville and charged in a plot to buy guns in Georgia and sell them in Mexico.
There are charges of murder and attempted murder for a man in Gainesville: 26 year-old Steve Andrade is in the Hall County jail, charged with killing his father and trying to kill his mother. The body of 52 year-old Esteban Andrade was found earlier this week; the GBI says he died of what looks to have been blunt force trauma, apparently beaten to death with a sledgehammer. Andrade also allegedly tried to hang his mother. There is no word on a motive for the murder. A Hall County Sheriff’s Office investigation is ongoing.
A Hall County grand jury hands up an indictment in the case of Sarah Voss: the 34 year-old Gainesville woman faces a murder charge. She is claiming self-defense in the shooting death of a man she says was threatening to kill her. David Best was 42 years old, from Lithonia. He was shot and killed in October at an apartment complex in Gainesville.
A woman from Forsyth County and her 6 year-old daughter, both the focus of a nationwide search, have been found safe in Mexico. Police in Cumming say they were taken against their will by the child’s father. They are now back in the United States. The accused kidnaper—55 year-old Alex Lopez—is in federal custody.