A Ware County man has been arrested and charged in connection to a 45-year-old case involving the rape and murder of a woman in Waycross, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.
The GBI said it had arrested Freddie Lee Granger Jr., age 68, of Ware County, March 31 and charged him with one count of Rape, one count of Aggravated Assault, one count of Malice Murder, and two counts of Felony Murder in connection with the 1984 death of 22-year-old Sandra Kaye Davis.
Granger was taken into custody and booked into the Ware County Jail. The suspect had his bond denied in an April 1 appearance before a magistrate.
On September 1, 1984, the Waycross Police Department discovered Davis’s body beside a home on Kollock Street in Waycross. The resident of 1635 Ben Hill Street had been strangled.
The WPD later requested the GBI to assist with the investigation. The results of continued DNA testing linked Granger to the crime, the GBI said in a media release.
The Waycross Police Department, the Ware County Sheriff’s Office, the Georgia Department of Community Supervision, and the GBI’s Cold Case Unit assisted the GBI Regional Investigative Office in Douglas with the investigation and in locating and arresting Granger.
According to a story in the September 4, 1984, edition of the Waycross Journal-Herald, Davis’s body was partially clothed when found, the victim of an apparent robbery-homicide, Waycross Police Chief W. Lynn Taylor said.
Authorities found the body about 10:50 am, Saturday, September 1 beside the home at 307 Kollock Street near its intersection with Gilmore Street, Taylor said.
Davis, the daughter of Osborn and Ruby Driver Davis, was last seen by friends the night of August 31 at a nearby store, according to the report.
“It appears to us that she was the victim of a possible robbery-homicide and possibly a rape,” Taylor said. “However, we are not able to confirm that she was, one, a rape victim, or two, that she died at the hands of someone else.”
Taylor said a pathologist performed an autopsy on the victim’s body September 2, but was unable to determine the exact cause of death at that time. He said a complete report was expected later that week.
“We have several leads in the case that we are checking,” Taylor said, adding all available investigators had been assigned to the case to check the leads WPD had received.
The GBI said in last week’s announcement the investigation remains active and ongoing. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the GBI Regional Investigative Office in Douglas at (912) 389-4103.
Anonymous tips can also be submitted by calling (800) 597-TIPS (8477), online at https://gbi.georgia.gov/su bmit-tips-online, or via the See Something, Send Something mobile app.
Once the investigation is complete, the case file will be given to the Waycross District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.
