Douglas On Trial For Two Counts Of Murder

By GENE ESPY
Publisher

A registered sex offender who allegedly murdered a 23-year-old woman by pushing her out of a moving truck on Highway 299 was scheduled for trial this week among other Dade County Superior Court cases.

Jeremiah Christopher Douglas, 41, (A.K.A. Count Spankulaa) is accused of two counts of murder, aggravated assault and two counts of making false statements or concealment of facts, according to Superior Court records.

The incident happened on Nov. 5, 2021 near Pope Trail. Multiple people and a video surveillance camera from local businesses allegedly witnessed the incident around 8:37 a.m.

Douglas allegedly did not stick around and left.

“Upon arrival, the body was found, and crime scene established. EMS verified that the female was deceased, and the Dade County Sheriff’s Office investigators notified Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and began securing witnesses and other evidence,” Dade County Sheriff Ray Cross stated.

Douglas, who resides at Patterson Drive near Wildwood, is on Georgia’s Sex Offender Registry, and he was on parole at the time of the incident. He originally served six years in prison for multiple child molestation counts and a statutory rape charge from Catoosa County.

Douglas and the victim reportedly knew each other, but the relationship, and a motive, is unknown at this time.

“There’s no reason for this,” Cross stated. “Stuff like this is what we are going to stop from happening in Dade County. I am very upset over this. A family has been damaged because of this piece of trash.”

Other cases possibly being tried this week, according to court information, include:

• An aggravated assault case against Jeffrey Lacy.
• Two aggravated assault cases against James Miller Jr.
• A theft case against David Conway.

A homicide case involving 58-year-old Roger Allen Shrader, of Trenton, is expected for trial in April next year.

On Friday, March 4, Dade County deputies responded to 53 Brow Road, on Sand Mountain to conduct a welfare check. The deputies discovered a deceased woman identified as Lagatha Shrader Watson, 81, of Bryant, AL.

Watson’s adult son, Shrader, was taken into custody and booked into the Dade County Jail.

He was indicted on Sept. 8 on four murder charges and four aggravated assault charges.