Four cats and a dog were found crated, abandoned and dead inside a storage unit.
Stephanie Bennett formerly of Waters Avenue rented the unit at the Stars and Stripes Storage Facility at 5503 Montgomery Street in January. Police say she filled up the 10 x 20 unit with household items and the five animals she left behind.
The manager, Jim Buckley, went into the unit to do an inventory for auction. He discovered the animals and called police.
Animal Control Officers removed the animals. Their state of decomposition led them to believe the animals had been dead for months. Animal Control has charged Stephanie Smith (formally Bennett) and her mother Mary Stalvey with animal neglect, animal cruelty, and abandonment of animals.
— Two people were transported after an unusual accident left one woman pinned between a utility pole and a vehicle. Around 4:30 p.m., the driver of a Buick Sedan, Charlie Haywood, 78, pulled into a laundry service at 41st Street and Skidaway Road.
Haywood attempted to back out of his spot, thinking he was too close to the vehicle beside him. He struck the curb, then pulled forward, striking the rear of a GMC Yukon parked in the lot.
Haywood backed up again and ran into the curb a second time. He accelerated backward in a circular pattern backing into another vehicle, a 1999 GMC Suburban.
Ms. Krystal Morris and her son were removing items from the vehicle at the time of the collision. They attempted to get out of the way when they were trapped between Haywood’s vehicle and a utility pole. Morris suffered serious but non–life threatening injuries. Her son was transported and checked out as a precaution.
— Two people are in custody and a third is being sought after the trio robbed five people and shot one in less than two hours. Police arrested Varico Williams, 21, for 3 counts of Armed Robbery and will also seek attempted murder charges against him as well as a 16 year–old juvenile.
Just after midnight Williams and at least two other individuals approached two men at their home on Duffy Lane. The suspects demanded to be taken into the house, where they took several items, to include keys to a 2004 Honda Accord.
Williams and the two other individuals then went on to rob another victim, at one point forcing him into the car at gun point and later releasing him, just before they robbed a woman just blocks away. The robberies took place minutes apart as the victims walked on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Then it is believed the suspects went into South Carolina, where they pulled into the front of Club Karma in Hardeeville, and robbed a Statesboro man that was outside the club near the front steps.
The man was shot multiple times and sustained a life threatening injury. He was transported to Memorial University medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition.
After a short foot pursuit, two of the three suspects were apprehended. Williams is in the Chatham County Detention Center, the juvenile is currently in the Regional Youth Detention Center.
