A Bulloch County grand jury on Wednesday returned two indictments including felony accusations against Kelly Williams, 65. One indictment charges him with first-degree burglary, aggravated animal cruelty and a misdemeanor in connection with the circa Sept. 12 death of a Boykin spaniel owned by a former girlfriend.
The other, unrelated indictment stems from a Jan. 30 incident in which Williams called 911 repeatedly and allegedly made false reports that there were trespassers at his home and that he had killed two people.
An indictment is not a determination of guilt, but only a decision by a majority of grand jury members that enough evidence exists for the charges to go to trial. Georgia grand juries consist of 16 to 23 jurors, and 21 were listed on indictments resulting from the Oct. 1 callback session of the county’s August-term quarterly grand jury.
In a preliminary and bond hearing the previous Friday, Sept. 26, Superior Court Judge Ronald K. “Ronnie” Thompson had denied bond for Williams in the more recent case, resulting from the dog’s death, and also revoked the bond on which he had been released after his arrest for the earlier incident. In announcing that decision, the judge cited “mental health concerns” and stated that the defendant presented “a risk to harm himself and possibly others.”
But in the preliminary hearing portion, Thompson had found probable cause, in the testimony and evidence presented, for only the misdemeanor charge of abandonment of a dead animal. Thompson said he did not find probable cause on the two felony charges alleged in the arrest warrants – aggravated cruelty to animals and first-degree burglary – after no testimony was presented during the hearing about how the dog died or that anyone saw Williams enter Smith’s house.
However, the judge said he would let the grand jury decide whether those charges should go forward.
3 counts ‘true billed’
The grand jury Wednesday “true billed” all three counts in an indictment presented by District Attorney Robert Busbee or an Ogeechee Judicial Circuit assistant district attorney. In the indictment, the three counts are stated as aggravated cruelty to animals and burglary in the first degree – both felony charges – and “unlawful disposition of dead animal,” a slightly different name for the misdemeanor count.
The indictment’s statement of the aggravated cruelty charge alleges that Williams “on or about the 12th day of September 2025 did maliciously cause the death of an animal, a Boykin Spaniel, property of Sara Smith, by killing the dog and dismembering its head.”
Last week during the hearing in open court, Deputy Isaiah Rehl of the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office testified that, after first receiving a call from Smith in the afternoon wanting deputies to check on her dog, the department received a call that evening from a landowner on Railroad Bed Road near Brooklet.
According to Rehl, the landowner said he had seen Williams bring a box or cooler onto his property with a deceased dog in it. The landowner’s son later saw the cooler or its contents on fire, and arriving on the scene, deputies found the burned body of a dog “with no head,” Rehl testified.
The summary of the first-degree burglary count alleges that Williams entered Smith’s house on Sinkhole Road with the intent of committing a theft, also “on or about” Sept. 12.
Rehl was listed on the indictment as “prosecutor,” a term used in such documents to refer to the lead law enforcement witness rather than the prosecuting attorney. Unlike last week’s hearing, grand jury sessions are closed, and grand jurors usually hear only from the district attorney or an assistant and from law enforcement witnesses, with neither a defendant nor defense attorneys present.
Jan. 30 incident
A different BCSO officer, Cpl. Colby Lynn, was named as prosecutor in the other indictment, stemming from the Jan. 30 incident. Also true-billed by the grand jury, the indictment accuses Williams of making a false statement in an official matter, which was described as a felony charge in the original warrant, and with false report of a crime, which is a misdemeanor. Two other misdemeanor charges listed in the warrants from January were not carried forward to the indictment.
The “false statement” charge summary alleges that “on or about” Jan. 30, Williams “knowingly and willfully” made a false statement “that he had shot and killed individuals in his home” to Lynn in an investigation report. The false report of a crime allegation is for a report of criminal trespass.