Police chief: Time for healing in Shirey case

Published 2:40 pm Monday, July 16, 2018

THOMASVILLE — A dozen hours after the body of a missing 70-year-old woman was found, Thomasville Police Department (TPD) officers expressed thoughts and emotions about the case.

The absence of Deanna Shirey from her Glenwood Drive home and the discovery of her vehicle in Tallahassee, Florida, led law enforcement, her loved ones and community residents to become concerned about Shirey. As the days passed, concerns about her safety evolved into doubts about whether she was alive.

Meanwhile, another Thomasville woman was bound and robbed at her Thomasville Sherwood Drive home several days later. The next day, an Ochlocknee family was taken hostage.

Robert Lee Carter II, who lived at 428 Colton Ave., was the suspect in the three incidents. A massive, around-the-clock manhunt ensued, involving local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

Carter, 47, was found midafternoon on Sunday, July 8, hiding under a log in the Little Ochlockonee River. He is charged with numerous offenses and was denied bond. Carter is being held in the Thomas County Jail.

He has not been charged in the Shirey case, pending a determination of the cause of death.

Overwhelming is a word used often in the Shirey case. Police Chief Troy Rich used the word to describe the investigation of the case.

Police did not forget about the case when they went home at night.

Rich, police chief for four of the 28 years he has been with TPD, said his thoughts were on the case when he went to bed at night. When he woke up the next morning, his tried to imagine the grief and concerns of the missing woman’s family.

The chief said he would ask himself: “Are we doing enough to provide resolution in this case?”

Police brainstormed constantly about what they were not doing that they should be doing.

“It affected us personally, because we took it home to our families,” Rich said.

Exhausting is another word used frequently during the ongoing incident. Law enforcement officers became exhausted physically and mentally.

Much effort went into the situation by all law enforcement agencies involved, said Capt. Maurice Holmes, commander of the TPD Criminal Investigations Division.

Rich described the Georgia Bureau of Investigation as “phenomenal,” adding that all local law enforcement agencies banded together.

Holmes noted camaraderie among fellow law enforcement officers and the community.

“It’s sad this situation happened in the first place, and it’s sad when it ended like it did,” said Holmes, who has been in law enforcement for 24 years. “It’s uplifting to see the care displayed by members of this community in a time of need.”

Describing the case as bizarre from the beginning, Holmes said, “Even when it came to the apprehension of him (Carter,) he didn’t make it easy.”

Neither Rich, Holmes nor Maj. Wade Glover could recall a case like the cases of Shirey, the Sherwood Drive victim, the Ochlocknee family held hostage and the intense manhunt.

Glover said police would think they had a good lead, but it would not develop into anything. Frustration — another word law enforcement  mentioned many times — resulted over and over. 

Then the lead on Thursday night led to “an unfortunate circumstance,” Glover said, in the discovery of Shirey’s body in a shallow grave behind Carter’s house, wrapped in a comforter from her home.

“All law enforcement officers have a common trait,” Glover, a 26-year TPD employee, said. “We care.”

Rich said he had never witnessed a crime spree by one person like the Thomasville and Ochlocknee situations.

“This was an incident that doesn’t happen in small towns,” the chief said.

The search for Shirey is now a case of what happened to the victim that caused her death, he said.

“Now it’s time for healing,” Rich added.

Said Holmes, “We gave it our all. Everybody did.”

Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1820