An elderly Cochran woman was found dead in her apartment Monday. Now the Cochran Police and Georgia Bureau of Investigations say they're investigating this as a homicide.
"I was like no, not Ms. Barbara," Ashley Lawson said.
Ashley Lawson couldn't believe the news when she heard 67 year-old Barbara Clemons was found dead in her apartment in Cochran.
Lawson says Clemons is the last person she would think something bad would happen to.
"She was a nice, outgoing lady," Lawson said. "She was a fun, laughing, enjoyable lady."
Lawson says now she's scared for her and her kids safety.
"I've got to double check my windows, make sure my screen door is locked, my door is locked," Lawson said. "And now my kids used to stay outside when it gets dark, but I don't even let them do that now because I don't feel safe at all."
The Georgia Bureau of Investigations says they're investigating the case as a homicide.
"Things in the scene, yes, caused us to think we may be dealing with a homicide," Scott Whitley said.
GBI Special Agent In Charge, Scott Whitley, says Clemons' daughter hadn't heard from her mother in a few days and came to check on her. When Clemons didn't answer the door, he says the daughter called the Cochran police, and that's when they found her dead.
Whitley couldn't describe Clemons' injuries, give a cause of death, or say how long she had been dead before she was found.
But he says Clemons' body was taken to the GBI Crime Lab in Macon for an autopsy.
"We are investigating it as a homicide but I add the caveat in there that it's always pending what the medical examiner tells us," Whitley said.
Now Lawson says she is anxious for an arrest.
"I just hope they catch whoever did that because Ms Barbara, she didn't bother nobody," Lawson said. "She was a sweet, honest, joyful lady."
Clemons' death would be the third homicide in Cochran in less than a year. Last June, a teenager was accused of shooting 24 year-old Danta Yates after an argument over a stolen four wheeler. And in September, Devonte Johnson, also 24, was shot to death outside a party near the Middle Georgia State University campus. So far no one has been charged in that case.
