Wednesday, February 14, 2001
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Wednesday, February 14, 2001 |
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Pike murder suspect has Fayette ties By JOHN MUNFORD One of three men who sparked an extensive manhunt in Fayette County over 27 years ago has been arrested for the murder of two Pike County men at a hunting lodge there in January. Daniel Warren, 64, of Oglethorpe County, was arrested for the deaths of Tony Benefield and Mitchell Green, who were found dead at the lodge Benefield owned, according to a spokesman for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Warren had been paroled from the prison system for the previous offenses, which involved holding a Pike County bank manager and his family hostage back in 1973. Former Fayette County Deputy Ed Lynch, one of five deputies serving under Sheriff James Jones at the time, recalled the incident for The Citizen earlier this week. He said the manhunt was the largest ever to be conducted in this area at the time. Many residents took to carrying their personal firearms for protection "more than usual," Lynch said. "They weren't used to locking their doors and their cars," Lynch said. "But those men were considered armed and dangerous, really." The county was just beginning to have more daytime burglaries, but none ever occurred at night, Lynch remembered. "And of course, we enforced the traffic laws," he said. "It was quiet then." At that time, Warren was one of three suspects in that case, which involved the theft of over $18,000 from a bank in Molina, according to news accounts. The three fled to the Fayette area, starting the manhunt which involved more than 100 law enforcement officers operating roadblocks throughout the county, according to news accounts. Warren's cohorts were arrested in Tyrone the day after their escape from Pike County, but he managed to elude authorities a little bit longer. Eventually, he was convicted of charges including kidnapping and armed robbery, and he was sentenced to life in prison. The search for the trio put many Fayette residents on edge, leaving some to carry their personal weapons with them for protection, according to newspaper accounts. A sledgehammer was used to break into the bank manager's home also. During the incident, the three suspects held the bank manager, his wife and his son against their will. The trio took the manager to the bank early the following morning, when the timed lock would allow the safe to be opened. Two female bank employees also were taken hostage at the time, before the trio secured $18,000 in cash and got away. Trained bloodhounds and two helicopters were used to aid in the search of Fayette County, which lasted nearly a week before the operations were shut down. In addition to the Sheriff's Department, the police forces of Fayetteville and Peachtree City participated in the search along with the Georgia State Patrol and other agencies. Sheriff Jones himself pulled over the three suspects in a stolen station wagon on Ga. Highway 74 near Senoia, according to news accounts. But the trio fled on foot and eluded immediate capture. Two of the suspects, A.D. Allen Jr. and Charles W. Patrick Allen, were caught later buying food at the Tyrone Self Serve Grocery. Allen was a notorious figure in criminal circles back then, and his criminal history was documented in a portion of the book "Murder in the Peach State" by Maj. Bruce Jordan of the Fayette County Sheriff's Department. Lynch was chief deputy of the Sheriff's Department for a while, and he lived at the jail where his wife would cook for the few inmates that inhabited the jail from time to time. Later, Lynch became chief of police for Fayetteville before retiring in 1991. As for now, Warren and two other co-conspirators have been charged with murder for the recent deaths. If convicted, it's unlikely Warren will ever be paroled again.
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