Sunday, Apr. 17, 2005 | ||
Bad Links? | Robbins pleads not guiltyBy JOHN MUNFORD William Edward Eddie Robbins of Jonesboro, accused of killing two men at a north Fayette home in 2003, officially pled not guilty to the murder charges in open court Thursday. Robbins, 49, is charged with the April 2003 murder of David O. Mangham and Francis Michael Fowler. Their bodies were found in Manghams residence in the Princeton Chase subdivision off Ga. Highway 314 north, and both men were shot to death, police said. The crime was characterized as a robbery when money went missing from a cabinet, according to a wrongful death suit filed in connection with the case. Manghams parents, Orris and Carrie Mangham, were successful in the civil suit, although they were unable to get Robbins to testify on the record about his role in the killings. Fowler, of Ellenwood, was helping Mangham work on restoring cars, police said. Fowler, Mangham and Robbins were high school buddies, police said, although there had been a recent falling out between Robbins and Mangham before the killings. Mangham was the owner and operator of Georgia Topsoil Company and an active churchgoer, friends said at the time of his death. According to the wrongful death suit, Mangham had loaned Robbins $1,000 before the shooting took place, allegedly April 23, 2003 after Mangham returned home from the Dunkin Donuts in Fayetteville. Robbins took about $3,000 from Manghams home after the shootings, the civil suit claimed. Robbins was one suspect investigators zeroed on early in the case, but they were unable to recover the alleged weapon used in the killings. They even went so far as to dig up the yard of a residence in Clayton County where Robbins used to live, working on a tip that Robbins formerly shot his gun up in the air during a New Years celebration at the home. Police were hoping to find a shell casing from that event, which could possibly have connected Robbins to the murders. |
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