The suspect in the murder of a Bulloch County woman Friday is awaiting extradition to the Bulloch County Jail from Florida, where he was captured late Friday afternoon, said Bulloch County Sheriff’s Capt. Todd Hutchens during a press conference held at the Statesboro Region 5 Georgia Bureau of Investigation headquarters Monday.
Lee Allen Mayhew, 44, was pulled over and taken into custody without incident by Columbia County, Fla., law enforcement while driving the alleged victim’s stolen car.
During the press conference with GBI Special Agent-in-Charge John Durden, Hutchens told reporters Bonnie Lanier Rushing, 53, was killed in her Stilson-Leefield Road home the day after Mayhew was being sought in the area for a burglary that took place about five miles away on Old River Road South.
Bulloch County Sheriff’s deputies began searching for Mayhew after a burglary victim came home around 5 p.m. Thursday and found a strange car in his carport. Also, he found several guns, among other items, stolen, said Bulloch County Sheriff Noel Brown in a statement released Friday.
From Tennessee to Georgia, Florida
A series of crimes led Mayhew into Georgia last week.
David Boling, public affairs officer for the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Middle Tennessee, told the Statesboro Herald that Mayhew, with a history of various crimes, had been indicted last year for possession of firearms by a convicted felon. Out on bond, he showed up for a court hearing while intoxicated, and ended up in a residential rehabilitation program. Mayhew did not complete the program and was slated for an Oct. 20 hearing on that charge.
He did not show up and warrants were issued. Mayhew was being sought by the US Marshal Service on that charge Thursday when he fled into Georgia, Boling said.
Bulloch County Sheriff’s deputies identified Mayhew as the suspect in Thursday’s burglary through evidence in the car he abandoned at the burglary victim’s home, Hutchens said.
Sheriff’s deputies, the Bulloch County K9 unit, Georgia State Patrol Aviation unit, U.S. Marshals agents and others searched the area Thursday night but did not locate the suspect. Brown issued a statement Friday with Mayhew’s description and the fact that he was armed and should not be approached.
It is unclear what time Friday Rushing’s murder occurred, but when friends and family could not reach her, someone contacted the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office, Hutchens said. Both family members and deputies discovered Rushing’s body in her home, he said.
Rushing did suffer a gunshot wound, but the cause of her death is yet undetermined. GBI agents await results from an autopsy performed Monday, Hutchens said.
While Hutchens initially told the Statesboro Herald Thursday there was a “possible” second burglary suspect, he later said it was determined Mayhew acted alone and there are no other suspects in Rushing’s murder.
“I want to assure Bulloch residents not to be concerned about any other dangerous criminals in the area,” he said. “They may see law enforcement vehicles in the area of the crime, but they are doing follow ups to the investigation.”
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Rushing was shot to death sometime Friday afternoon.
“It appears that the perpetrator entered the residence and at some point had contact with Rushing” and killed her, the GBI stated in a release Saturday afternoon.
Hutchens said no one else was in the home when Rushing was killed.
After stealing Rushing’s vehicle, Mayhew was subsequently tracked and located in Florida. The GBI release said he was arrested without incident by Florida law enforcement officers.
Mayhew has a lengthy record of offenses in Tennessee, dating back to 1996, when he was 20 years old.
Most recently, according to nashville.gov, a web site maintained by the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee, Mayhew was charged with vehicle theft, DUI, resisting police, and driving without insurance in May of 2016. He had been convicted the previous month on two counts of auto theft, and received two three-year probated sentences.
In 2008, Mayhew was convicted on five counts of aggravated burglary, and received five concurrent 10-year sentences.
According to the Florida Department of Corrections, Mayhew also served time in Florida. In 1999, Mayhew was charged with burglary in Volusia County and was sentenced to four years in prison. He was incarcerated in June of 1999, and was released in March of 2003.
“He is a career criminal,” Hutchens said.
When Mayhew is extradited back to Georgia from Florida, where he is currently accompanied by a GBI agent and Bulloch County deputy, he faces charges of felony murder, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, theft by taking motor vehicle and burglary.
Rushing, the sister of Bulloch County Elections Supervisor Pat Lanier Jones, will lie in state at Joiner-Anderson Funeral Home. Visitation will be Wednesday, Oct. 28 from 4-8 p.m., with the funeral service slated for Thursday at 2 p.m. in the chapel.