Remains positively identified as murder suspect

By Gabe Jordan/The Cordele Dispatch

CORDELE — Technicians with the state crime lab Tuesday positively identified the remains found in a cotton field here as those of a suspect wanted in a Turner County murder.

Crisp County Sheriff Donnie Haralson said the body is that of Nathan Emmanuel Holley, the 34-year-old suspect in a late-September murder who had reportedly been spotted by several Crisp County residents.

The body was found at approximately 12:15 p.m. Monday by a farmer driving a cotton picker in a field off Fenn Road in northern Crisp County. Investigators from the Crisp County Sheriff’s Office, working in concert with investigators from the Turner County’s Sheriff’s Office, had located Holley’s truck on Oct. 6 on Fenn Road not far from where the body was found on Monday.

Haralson said the identification of Holley’s remains Tuesday closes the book on the investigation as far as Crisp County’s involvement is concerned.

“It’s a terrible tragedy,” Haralson said, “and while we’re glad to get it resolved, our prayers go out to both families.”

Holley was wanted for the murder of Tommy Wayne Giles, 58, of Ty Ty, who died from a gunshot wound to the head. Giles’ body was found near Bobby Reeves Road in Turner County Sept. 27. Little information about a motive in the killing has been released by authorities, but it had been reported that Holley and Giles worked together at C&S; Builders in Ty Ty.

Holley’s appearance in Crisp County followed shortly after the discovery of Giles’ body. According to Haralson, numerous reports of sightings were made from residents in several different areas in the county. The first came from the Tremont community in northern Crisp County, where deputies distributed flyers with a description of Holley and his vehicle.

According to Crisp County Coroner Jimmy Rainey, who transported Holley’s remains to the state crime lab in Atlanta Monday afternoon, the final forensics report from the lab has not been completed, and it’s difficult to determine how long Holley’s body had been in the cotton field before its discovery. Haralson said on Monday afternoon, however, that the remains were “badly decomposed.”

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