True Crime: Murder In Brunswick

True Crime by Chris Bunton

On August 29, 2009  a 911 call was made by Guy Heinze Jr. Stating that his family had been murdered.

7 bodies were found with two injured. One of the injured people died two days later, Making the body count 8.

The victims had suffered blunt force trauma and Guy Heinze Jr became the main suspect. He was charged with tampering of evidence and drug possession.

He was indicted in September of 2009 for murder, based upon DNA evidence found at the scene.

It was believed that he was smoking crack, and got into an argument over some pain pills, and then went around killing everyone in the trailer with an old shotgun barrel.

Blood from the victims was found on his clothes. Also, a bloody cell phone and shotgun stock was found in his car. He stated in his 911 call that the victims had been beaten to death. This was a red flag.

Police said that when they came on the scene, they thought the victims had been shot. There was so much damage, there was no way Heinze could know it was blunt force trauma if he just “discovered” them.

He also tried to hide the shotgun stock, which was ruled out as the murder weapon. He claimed it was stolen and he didn’t want to get blamed. It was not stolen however, it was owned by a victim. His lies and trying to cover things up led him to be a suspect.

He was convicted of all 8 murders in 2013, and sentenced to life imprisonment. His defense argued that the prosecution refused to look at any other possible suspects based upon circumstantial evidence. The blood was not splattered but smeared, there was no real motive, and it would be impossible for one person to kill eight people with a blunt weapon.

The Georgia Supreme Court upheld the conviction.

It was believed that the crime was committed over drugs. It’s the worst case of familicide in Georgia history. It probably ranks up there in the top cases in the country.

The victims all lived together in the mobile home where they died.

The victims are;

Guy Heinze Sr., 45
Rusty Toler Sr., 44
Chrissy Toler, 22
Russell D. Toler Jr., 20
Michael Toler, 19
Michelle Toler, 15
Brenda Gail Falagan, 49
Joseph L. West, 30
Byron Jimerson Jr. 3 survived but had severe head injuries.

Guy Heinze Jr, has not confessed to the killings. His younger brother and other surviving family members do not believe he is guilty. His brother believes others came and did it over drug money.

I was in Brunswick researching the case. I saw in the news paper that the crime was committed in the New Hope Mobile Home Park, north of Brunswick.

I traveled down highway 17 till I found the turn off. There was an old beat up sign near the road.

I turned off the highway and started to drive down a long straight paved road through some woods, till I came to a clearing.

The entire trailer park was gone. It was a huge empty lot with roads and posts where trailers might have been at one time.

I turned around and left. Honestly the place had a weird feeling to it, and it was odd that it was completely empty.

I don’t know if Guy Heinze Jr did it. I try to believe someone is innocent till proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. I would hate to be on a jury.

It’s a terrible tragedy no matter what.

Sources and Further Reading:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-guilty-killing-eight-family-members-georgia-mobile-home-flna8C11469260

https://www.nydailynews.com/2009/08/31/trailer-park-residents-fear-serial-killers-as-georgia-police-remain-mum-on-massacre/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mystery-deepens-in-family-massacre-that-killed-8/

https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/crime/2009/09/01/stub-1847/15975006007/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/guy-heinze-jr-ga-man-guilty-of-killing-father-and-7-others-in-mobile-home-but-wont-get-death-penalty/

https://www.savannahnow.com/story/news/2013/10/31/brunswick-family-killer-gets-life-prison/13638425007/

https://www.jacksonville.com/picture-gallery/news/crime/2019/09/23/a-look-back-guy-heinze/67382362007/

https://thebrunswicknews.com/special_reports/new-hope-plantation-murders/collection_b357a42c-b3ed-11e5-b716-07d460b90131.html

https://theaugustapress.com/glynn-county-investigated-one-person-2009-in-murder-of-entire-family/

https://law.justia.com/cases/georgia/supreme-court/2020/s20a1353.html

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glynn_County_mass_murder

Photos by the author and news outlets.

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Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from Southern Illinois. He has published in several magazines, and has written a poetry eBook called “Against the Man” and an Addiction Recovery eBook called “Made Free: Overcoming Addiction“ His newest book is called “The Future is Coming” and is a collection of dystopian short stories.

Follow Him on Medium: https://chris-bunton.medium.com/

Read His Spiritual Writings on Blogger: https://chrisbunton.blogspot.com/

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