Chattooga County investigators find apparent murder weapon in pond

Thursday, March 5, 2015

photo Chattooga County Sheriff's Office investigators found a Colt .45 in a pond near Georgia State Route 100 and Lyerly Dam Road. The gun belonged to William Robert Packer, and investigators believe his girlfriend used it to kill him.
photo Deborah Wilkins

The Chattooga County Sheriff's Office has found the gun believed to have been used to kill William Robert Packer on June 14.

After draining a lake near Georgia State Route 100 and Lyerly Dam Road for about 1-1/2 days, investigators found Packer's Colt .45 handgun around 3:30 p.m. today. Sheriff Mark Schrader said that Packer's girlfriend, Deborah Elaine Wilkins, told Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Joe Montgomery that she threw the gun into that pond after killing Packer.

Schrader said deputies found Packer dead in his dining room after Wilkins called Chattooga County Chief Deputy Kevin Woods and told him, "I've got a dead body here and I'm tired of looking at it." She also said Packer had been dead since 3 a.m., about 14 hours before she called Woods.

Packer had been shot three times in the back, according to an incident report. Schrader said today that the bullets used seemed to match the type found in a Colt .45.

For more information, read tomorrow's Times Free Press.

From the future, March 4, 2015: