MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — We've been looking at the unsolved homicides in Milledgeville and Baldwin County. This next case deals with the death of 27-year-old Douglas Cheek.
Cheek was found shot in the neck on December 11, 2015. The Milledgeville Police Department says that this unsolved case is different from the others because the manner of death is still undetermined. Homicide or suicide?
13WMAZ’s Jessica Cha went to Milledgeville to speak to police and Cheek's mother.
Investigator Nick Reonas says at around 9 p.m., officers were called out to 2348 Anthony Way for a possible suicide. They said Cheek was visiting people there and they called 911.
However, Reonas says no one saw the shooting.
"They found the victim, Mr. Cheek, lying on the sidewalk in front of the residence and he was deceased,” Reonas explains.
Cheek's mom, Rose Griffin, says on the day he died, it had started as a normal day.
"I had ran some errands, and I was coming in the driveway; he was ready to go. He left out the door and I never seen him no more,” Griffin says.
She says she told him she loved him, but didn’t know she’d be saying it for the last time.
She says Cheek left with his then-girlfriend, and she dropped him off with a friend that drove him to Anthony Way.
Griffin said she had not spoken with him all day when later that night, she heard a knock at the door. It was the coroner.
"It felt like my whole life was just gone,” Griffin remembers. “He said my son had committed suicide. I said, ‘My son is dead?’ He said, ‘Was he depressed?’ I said, `My son is dead?"
Griffin says she doesn't believe her son killed himself. She says he loved life, his kids, and family.
“He loved life, he loved life and everything that went with it. He was getting ready for Christmas and buying gifts,” she says.
Griffin says police have not done a good job investigating. She says she was never contacted to identify her son’s body, and has never been called to the police station to give a statement or be asked questions.
She said she had to go to the police department to ask for an incident report. When she received it, she says she was able to get in contact with the woman who called 911 to report Cheek’s death. Griffin says the woman and her boyfriend had just gotten acquainted with Cheek and lived at the house he was visiting on the day of his death.
“She told me everything -- that her boyfriend told her that my son shot himself, and she made the 911 phone call,” she explains.
Soon after, Griffin says she was told by the police department to stop contacting the woman because it was an ongoing homicide investigation. She says she hasn’t heard anything from the police department in seven years.
"I have never gotten a phone call from the police department. I have called them numerous times. Thursday was the first time I got a call from them about my son’s death.”
Detective Reonas was assigned Cheek's case this year. He says Cheek's death was caused by a gunshot to the neck. He says based on that, physical evidence they’ve found, and witness testimony, saying what they’ve heard–investigators suspect it was a homicide.
"This is not labeled as a suicide, it has not been labeled as a homicide,” he explains. “As we said, we will investigate it as a homicide until we can definitively prove or disprove that it was or wasn't.”
Reonas says they have a suspect in mind, but haven't charged him due to lack of evidence. He says people who know what happened should contact them.
"It's been seven years. It's time to get some closure for the victim’s family, for us,” Reonas says.
Griffin says her son’s death has been like a roller coaster and she’s ready to get off.
I want to find out something before I leave here regarding my son, some closure. If you cared about Doug-- I don't know whether you were friends or not, I don't know who you are-- but I'm speaking to whoever was there that night who saw something, heard something. Please, please talk because it could be your loved one,” she says.
Officer Reonas says if you have any information about the case, you can call their anonymous tip line at 478-414-4413. They're offering up to a $1,000 reward for an arrest and conviction.