NAACP hosts Baldwin Community Forum

Published 1:00 pm Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Nearly 100 people attended the NAACP Baldwin Community Forum at Union Baptist Church in Milledgeville Monday night to discuss local unsolved murder cases and other topics related to crime and criminal justice reform.

The hosts were members of the Baldwin County Branch of the NAACP No. 5169. Cynthia Ward-Edwards, who serves as president, and Clarence Hall, who serves as first vice president of the organization, served as moderators of the event. Ward-Edwards said the forum seeks to generate updates about unsolved cases and to get feedback from residents.

“In recent years, our community has faced numerous challenges related to crime, unsolved murders, public relations issues and criminal justice reform, to name a few,” Ward-Edwards said. “Our chapter of the NAACP recognized the urgent need for constructive conversations that hopefully will bridge the gap in our community. We, the NAACP, consider ourselves a voice for the voiceless.”

She said she hoped that some of the voices of loved ones affected by the senseless killings would be heard within the walls of the church.

“We would like to thank everyone for participating in this important conversation,” Ward-Edwards said. “Your presence underscores commitment to working together to address challenges and build a safer and a more resilient community.”

Several guests were invited to participate in the forum.

Baldwin County Sheriff Bill Massee, who was accompanied by two members of his command staff — Maj. Scott Deason and Maj. Brad King — said he has attended functions at the church through the years, even political forums where he has had to answer difficult questions.

“Today, we talk about unsolved homicides, and to be honest with you, since the last time we had this meeting here, we don’t have any new unsolved homicides,” Massee said. “And I know this is a strange way for me to present this, but I’m going to talk to you about working homicides.”

The veteran sheriff said he wished to address them from a present, past and future standpoint.

“I’m going to start with the present,” Massee said. “Last year, we had three homicides.”

Detectives working to solve two of those cases were “greatly assisted” by the new Flock camera system. There are 98 such cameras operating within the city of Milledgeville and Baldwin County, Massee said. The cameras were purchased by the Baldwin County Board of Commissioners and Milledgeville City Council.

One of the murder cases in 2023 was that of a 10-year-old boy as he slept in his bedroom in a mobile home off Harrisburg Road.

“I’m going to tell you from my people who worked it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a group of young deputy sheriffs or older deputy sheriffs as upset as they were working this homicide,” Massee said.

The camera system hit on two cars shortly after the shooting, and within 48 hours of the homicide, four suspects were taken into custody, the sheriff said.

Massee said the Flock camera system also aided deputies and detectives with the apprehension of suspects in the murder of an 18-year-old who attended Baldwin High School. The student was gunned down inside his doublewide mobile home off Black Springs Road.

“It’s been a game changer with us,” Massee said of the Flock camera system.

Massee said one of the unsolved murder cases is the Roni Reaves case. She was an instructor at Central Georgia Technical College in Milledgeville and worked part-time as a hairdresser at her husband’s local barbershop.

“If we had these cameras on Highway 212, I’m going to tell y’all, we would have had suspects,” Massee said.

The sheriff said detectives have chased leads attempting to solve the case.

“We’ve done everything we could think of doing from working with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and people in the computer business,” Massee said.

The sheriff said the community involvement that law enforcement authorities used to have in the community does not exist today.

“We used to work a shooting or a homicide, and we would have people come up to us and say, ‘I saw him or her and this is what they did,’” Massee said. “We don’t get that now.”

In the last six months, the sheriff said he has spent money buying new software, hired an analyst and incorporated the 98 Flock cameras into all the computers at the sheriff’s office.

“We have bought the same software programs utilized by the FBI and GBI, and other federal agencies,” Massee said. “We are honestly at this point in time probably are the most technologically-advanced agency in middle Georgia. I’ll put us up against anybody.”

Before Milledgeville Police Department Maj. Linc Boyer, commander of the road patrol division, addressed the audience, Ward-Edwards had family members of unsolved homicides stand and be recognized. Some of them also spoke later in the program.

“A lot of stuff that I’m going to say is kinda the same thing that Sheriff Massee said about the technology side of it,” Boyer said. “We have several unsolved unsolved homicides, back from 2015 moving on up, that had we had the technology that we have today, we would have stood a greater chance of solving these homicides.”

Boyer said one of the homicides that stayed with him and is personal to him is the triple-homicide case that happened just two days after he was promoted to commander of the road patrol division. It occurred at a residence off Laura Court in Duplex City.

“We told y’all last year that we had recovered the firearm in that case and we sent it off,” Boyer said. “We are still waiting to hear back from the lab on those DNA results.”

Brian Hargrove, assistant special agent in-charge of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Region 6 Office in Milledgeville, also spoke about crime.

“When Ms. Edwards called and asked if we would come, I said, ‘Absolutely,’” Hargrove said. “The main reason I wanted to come was to get to know some people.”

He explained that the GBI is a request law enforcement agency.

“We assist local law enforcement agencies in the investigations of different crimes,” Hargrove said.

He said the GBI has been involved in several local homicides.

“We talk with Sheriff Massee, Brad King and everyone else regularly about these cases,” Hargrove said.

He said when the state agency that he works with comes into a case to assist local law enforcement officers, the GBI becomes “a force multiplier.”

There are eight special agents assigned to work criminal investigations. There are also two crime scene specialists.

Hargrove said the GBI has “a wonderful working relationship” with the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office and the district attorney’s office. Aside from Baldwin County, the local office of the GBI also works to assist authorities in 11 other counties.

Hargrove also pointed out that technology such as the Flock camera system isn’t just working in Milledgeville and Baldwin County, but it’s working well in other counties, too.