Police Blotter

Bond is denied for woman, son charged in slaying

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A Superior Court judge denied bond Thursday for a Columbia County woman and her son accused of murder.

Despite defense attorneys' arguments that the evidence against Rebecca Sears, 41, and Christopher Bowers, 19, in the March 25 killing of Laverne "Kay" Parsons is circumstantial, Chief Judge J. Carlisle Overstreet denied granting them bond during a hearing at the Columbia County Justice Center.

Overstreet did say, however, that Sears' and Bowers' attorneys, Victor Hawk and Jacque Hawk, respectively, may request a second bond hearing after a preliminary hearing April 29. The attorneys said they plan to present evidence at the hearing of their clients' innocence in the death of the 41-year-old Grovetown woman.

Police arrested Bowers, of the 4000 block of Briarwood Drive, Martinez, and Sears, of 227 Hot Springs Drive, Grovetown, three days after the killing.

Assistant District Attorney Philip Catalano, who asked Judge Overstreet to deny bond, referred to Sears as the "mastermind" of Parsons' homicide. As Parsons' next-door neighbor, Catalano said, Sears knew the victim's schedule and that her husband was out of town. He said Sears told her son when to strike and that it was Bowers who beat Parsons to death with a claw hammer.

The prosecutor called Sears and Bowers flight risks and dangers to the community.

Suspect flees after money stolen from coin-sorting device

The manager of a Martinez grocery store called police Wednesday after discovering a man, posing as a Coinstar employee, robbing one of the company's machines.

About 8 p.m. Wednesday, the man began working on the coin sorting and processing machine at Food Lion, 4098 Old Petersburg Road. The manager said that technicians usually don't service machines that late, but that the man used a key to open it. He said that he had left his company badge in the car and that he was cleaning the machine.

The manager used the Coinstar phone attached to the machine to ask a company representative whether an employee was scheduled, which the company was unable to confirm. In the meantime, the man went to his car and returned with a blue jacket with Coinstar written on it. She confronted him again, and they argued.

The man grabbed a black zipper bag from the back of the machine, concealed it in his coat and left. He left gloves that he had been wearing, the manager said.

The manager and a witness said the man got into a silver four-door car, possibly a Toyota Prius, and headed east on Old Evans Road.

They described him as black, 5 feet 10 inches tall with a heavy build; he wore dark pants, a button-up, short-sleeved, collared shirt and a blue coat.

Police confirmed with Coinstar that no employee was scheduled to service the machine.

Couple sought in death by tow truck surrender, arrested

A South Carolina couple accused of running over and killing an Augusta man in the path of their tow truck surrendered about 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Columbia County Detention Center.

Michael Faron Brown, 27, and Victoria Brown, 21, are charged with murder in William Leslie Jacobs' death April 9, according to Columbia County sheriff's Capt. Steve Morris.

Jacobs, 64, was hit by the wrecker outside the home of Lidie Joseph Clements on Roswell Drive in Martinez.

Jacobs and Clements saw the Browns trying to repossess Clements' Dodge truck, damaging the truck and Jacobs' van, which also was in the driveway, according to a sheriff's office incident report.

Clements said he approached the wrecker to speak to the driver, identified as Mr. Brown. The truck broke loose from the wrecker, which sped forward toward Clements, according to the police report.

Clements said he jumped out of the way to avoid being hit. When he turned around, he saw that the wrecker had driven over Jacobs. The man and woman in the tow truck drove away.

Jacobs was taken to Doctors Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Police issued arrest warrants April 11 charging the Browns with murder. Mr. Brown also is charged with aggravated assault with a motor vehicle, and Mrs. Brown is charged with battery.

The Browns are being held in the Columbia County Detention Center without bond, according to jail records.