MOULTRIE - Morris Gaines saw nothing unusual in his rural south Georgia neighborhood that is, until it was swarming with investigators and the swirling blue lights of police cars after five people were killed in a nearby house.
Four adults and a 3-year-old were found dead after older children returned from school to the neat brick and frame house about four miles east of Moultrie.
Gaines and his wife, Betty, were watching television Monday night as the investigation by the Colquitt County Sheriff's Office and Georgia Bureau of Investigation proceeded about 100 yards away.
Betty Gaines said she and some other neighbors were concerned about safety, but her husband said he was not worried.
``I've got my doors locked,'' Gaines said. ``If something comes in, I've got my pistol.''
GBI Special Agent Ronnie Thompson, who was supervising the case, said investigators believed the victims knew the killer, or killers.
``We're not ruling out anything. We're not speculating on a cause. We're operating on the theory that they knew the people,'' Thompson said.
The adults, including two who were believed to be the parents of the boy, had been shot to death, GBI spokesman John Bankhead said.
The bodies of two Hispanic women, a Hispanic man, a white woman, and a 3-year-old boy were discovered by the children. Some of the dead had been tied up.
Police were called after a 12-year-old boy, who had just returned from school on the school bus, ran screaming out of the house.
The 3-year-old, hidden in a bedroom, was found dead later by investigators, Bankhead said, adding that the cause of the boy's death was uncertain. He was identified as Juan Carlos Resendez.
Gaines said nothing appeared to be amiss earlier. At some point Monday afternoon, he said, he was on his patio, about 100 yards from crime scene, but at other times he was inside watching television with the door closed.
Authorities were searching for a white pickup seen in the vicinity.
The other children ages 12, 9, 7 and 5 were turned over to the state Division of Family and Children's Services.
The owner of the house, Ronnie Gaines of Quitman, said a white woman, Tina Resendez, rented it from him. Tina and her husband, Jaime, lived there with possibly two other adults and about six children, neighbors said.
Neighbors said the family had lived for about two months without ever causing a disturbance. They said the home appeared to be a gathering place for Hispanics, blacks and whites, with the men often spending the evening around a fire in a drum in the back yard.
Neighbors Jenny Young and Jean Oliver said that the house was often host to cookouts. Sunday night, there were more people congregated there than usual, they said.
Thompson said all the children were related. He said identities of the dead would be withheld pending notification of relatives, some of whom lived out of state.
``We're not identifying anybody right now,'' Thompson said.
Thursday
April 18th, 2024
1:19PM
