District Attorney Layla Zon will seek the death penalty against Brawny Jarvis McCollough and Jonathan Michael Henderson, the two men charged in the February shooting death of a woman and her wheelchair-bound nephew.
Both residents of Villa Rica, the younger McCollough, 31, and Henderson, 29, are charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. The victims, 56-year-old Donald McCollough and 66-year-old Peggy Molden, are the father and great-aunt of Brawny McCollough.
"The investigation showed that Brawny McCullough, who is the son of (Donald) McCullough and the nephew of Peggy Molden, along with Jonathan Henderson did commit this crime," read a Newton County Sheriff's Office release from earlier this year. The release also said the investigation showed a connection between the murders and an incident that took place in Alabama years prior, where the elder McCullough, who was paralyzed and in a wheelchair at the time of his death, was shot by a man who had come to his home to discuss a dog.
According to The Randolph Leader, an Alabama newspaper, McCullough "was partially paralyzed after being shot in June 2010 while living in the Bethel East community."
The paper reported that GBI investigators were in Randolph County researching the previous shooting, where a man came to McCullough's Alabama home "to inquire about a dog, pulled out a revolver, forced his way in and shot McCullough three times."
The double homicide was originally discovered around 9:30 a.m. Feb. 7 when deputies and emergency medical personnel received a call for help from a medical alert device inside the Tempie Lane home. They could reportedly see one person down inside the home, and once they forced their way inside they found the second person. Tempie Lane is located off Ga. Highway 162.
Henderson will be represented by private attorney L. David Wolfe and McCullough by a public defender yet to be identified. Chief Assistant District Attorney Anne Kurtz will prosecute both cases. Both will be heard by Superior Court Judge Eugene M. Benton.
