MONROE, Ga. — Two men were charged with murder after a body was found near a Loganville-area home.
The Walton County Sheriff’s Office announced the charges late Friday in a case that involved the cooperation of numerous federal, state and local law enforcement agencies including the Newton County Sheriff’s Office.
Jonathan Britt Lester and Kolbie Hadden Watters, both 21, were charged with felony murder and aggravated assault.
Roger Gene Watters, 44, was charged with tampering with evidence.
Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman has refused to release the identity of the victim until the body is identified by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Asheville, North Carolina, police arrested Lester and said his address was 5999 Walker Bennett Road, Loganville, the same place police found the body wrapped in an opaque material and placed in a shallow grave Friday morning.
Chapman said the Sheriff’s Office received a missing-persons report last month and Capt. Kirk McLeroy soon become suspicious foul play may have been involved.
Roger Watters is the former owner of Sycamore Street Pizzeria in Social Circle. He was arrested in September 2016, days after he was shot in an after-hours altercation in the restaurant and charged with five counts of aggravated assault and one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
He closed the restaurant shortly thereafter.
Participating in the investigation were the FBI; Secret Service; Drug Enforcement Agency; Georgia State Patrol; Barrow, Clarke, Elbert, Madison, Morgan, Newton, Oconee and Walton county sheriff’s offices and police in Social Circle and Asheville.Walton Tribune Managing Editor Cosby Woodruff contributed to this report.
