A 19-year-old Georgia woman called her local sheriff’s office on Sunday to let them know her 86-year-old grandfather had gone missing.
The next day, the Elbert County Sheriff’s Office found the body of the grandfather, Otha Perrin, Fox 5 reports. Perrin was dead from multiple gunshot wounds, police said, and his body had been left in a farm pond in the county, which is located in northeast Georgia along the border with South Carolina.
But that same day, before the body was discovered, another family member had reached out to police as well. The relative went to the sheriff’s office in person, Fox 5 reports, to say “something isn’t right” about the Perrin’s disappearance.
Eventually, the granddaughter who initially reported Perrin missing — Savanna Jennings, 19 — broke down during questioning and admitted to authorities that she hadn’t told the truth when she first spoke with them, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
Jennings was arrested Wednesday and charged with murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, aggravated assault, concealing the death of another and other charges, according to sheriff’s office records.
Deputies also arrested two other suspects in connection with Perrin’s death: William David Peterson, 19, and Dakota Scott Street, 18, Elbert County Sheriff Melvin Andrews told Fox Carolina.
Peterson faces the same charges as Jennings, while Street has only been charged with concealing the death of another, Fox Carolina reports.
Jennings and her grandfather, Perrin, had lived in the same home, WSB-TV reports.
Police recovered a .22 caliber rifle near the pond where Perrin’s body was found, Fox Carolina reports. The investigation is ongoing.
Elbert County Coroner Chuck Almond told the Elberton Star that Perrin was pronounced dead at the scene.
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