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Mobley appears in court, case cleared to move forward
Jerome Mobley
Jerome Mobley

MONROE, Ga. - Jerome Mobley made his first public showing Thursday since his arrest for allegedly killing Katie Mobley, his estranged wife.

He appeared before Judge Mike Burke at Magistrate Court for a preliminary hearing. After hearing testimony from Walton County Sheriff's Officer Investigator Kevin Wooldridge, Burke cleared the case to move forward.

Under questioning from Alcovy Judicial Circuit District Attorney Layla Zon and Circuit Public Defender Anthony Carter, Wooldridge laid out the facts of the case.

Mobley had been staying with a friend in Monroe on April 18, the day of the killing. He'd had a restraining order against him from a domestic violence charge in January that prevented him form making contact with his wife or two children.

According to the friend, Chad Bentley, Mobley drove off early in the morning, but left his cell phone on the kitchen table. Bentley tried to pursue Mobley to return the phone, but he'd already driven off in his blue, two-door pick-up.

At 6:47 a.m. that morning, Social Circle Police and Walton County Sheriff's responded to 911 call from Mobley's 9-year-old daughter Gentry. 

Wooldridge stated that she said, "Daddy just broke in and shot Mommy." 

Upon entering the house at 676 Knox Chapel Road, authorities found Gannon Mobley, the pair's 8-year-old son, attempting to perform CPR on his mother, who had been shot in the arm and neck.

She died on the scene, but appeared to, at some point, shoot Mobley in the right leg.

Jerome Mobley fled the scene in his truck, which deputies later found in a cemetery near Hard Labor Creek State Park.

A bloody belt and cigarette pack were found nearby.

After a two days search, Mobley appeared in a field behind a home on Hestertown Road belonging to Mark Womack. Mobley was shirtless, missing a boot and carrying a shotgun.

When Womack and his son Brantley approached Mobley placed the barrel of the gun under his chin and fired.

However, instead of taking his life, the blast only took off the majority of his face. Womack then held Mobley at gunpoint until authorities arrived.

Mobley was taken to Grady Hospital in Atlanta, where doctors surgically reconstructed his face.

When he was able to speak, he told deputies that he was shot at the door when he arrived at Katie Mobley's home. He said he didn't remember how his wife was shot.

A trial date has not yet been set for this case.

Several members of Katie's family were at the hearing, including her brother Josh Smith.

The case took a controversial twist after the murder, when the family and District Attorney's office revealed they had tried to get the court, in this case also Judge Burke, to revoke Mobley's $13,000 bond for his previous domestic violence charge after he violated the terms of his restraining order. Burke did not revoke the bond, and the killing happened soon after.

Smith said seeing Mobley for the first time since the incident was harder than he expected.

"It's clear he's suffering," Smith said."But he can never suffer enough."