A Statesboro man pled guilty last week to the murder of a man he came to know through their mutual participation in an online video gaming community.
John Warnell Morris of North Main St. was charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and aggravated battery for the shooting death on July 17, 2022 of Dolan Blanchard of Sylvania. After hearing details of the incident from both the defense and the state, Superior Court Judge Lovett Bennett sentenced Morris, 21, to life in prison plus an additional 15 years. He will be eligible for parole after serving the first 30 years of the sentence.
“Morris has been held accountable for his heinous actions while Dolan Blanchard’s family has been spared the distress and uncertainty that comes with trial and post-trial appeals process,” said Casey Ross Blount, an assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case for the Ogeechee Judicial Circuit. “Our thoughts and prayers remain with Dolan’s parents, Wayne and Alethia Blanchard, as well as the rest of Dolan’s family.”
Blount said that the investigation showed that Morris and Blanchard were part of a group of friends who played Xbox games with one another over the Internet.
After playing online for a few hours late on the night of July 16, 2022, Morris invited Blanchard to come to Statesboro from Sylvania and join him in shooting road signs with a gun. Blount said they drove in Blanchard’s car to the intersection of Maria Sorrell Road and Clito Road, just west of Highway 301 North, about 1:30 a.m. July 17.
After they both got out of the car, Blount said Morris shot twice at the stop sign at the intersection and then turned and shot Blanchard three times.
Morris then left Blanchard mortally wounded in the road and took his car to a nearby location and set it on fire with the murder weapon inside.
Deputies with the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a man lying in Maria Sorrell Road shortly after 1:30 a.m. Blanchard received first aid measures from deputies at the scene, but he died before Emergency Medical Services arrived. He was 21.
Blount commended the efforts of lead investigator Reid Odom and Capt. Todd Hutchens with the Sheriff’s Office.
“(Their) thorough investigation allowed them to secure a full confession and an on-scene walk-through of the crime by Morris,” Blount said. “Defendants simply do not plead guilty to malice murder, so the fact that this defendant did demonstrates the quality of the investigation.”