Police blotter
Prosecutors will seek death penalty in slaying
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Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty against a Columbia County woman and her son accused of fatally beating a Grovetown woman.
District Attorney Ashley Wright confirmed Friday that her office filed a notice of intent with Superior Court to seek the death penalty against Rebecca Sears, 41, and Christopher Bowers, 20. They were indicted by a Columbia County grand jury last week on murder charges in the death of Laverne "Kay" Parsons, 41. They also were indicted on armed robbery and burglary charges.
The indictment charges Sears, of 227 Hot Springs Drive, Grovetown, and Bowers, of the 4000 block of Briarwood Drive, Martinez, with beating Parsons with a bat and a claw hammer. It also accuses them of stealing a gold necklace and a watch from Parsons' home at 229 Hot Springs Drive.
The following accounts were taken from reports from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office. More reports are at www.columbiacountyso.org:
Teen is caught with coins from condom machine
A Martinez teen was arrested Sunday after a convenience store clerk said he caught him stealing money from a condom machine in the bathroom.
Timothy Wayne Dinkins, 18, of the 4100 block of Thomas Circle, was charged with theft by taking and was being held Tuesday in the Columbia County Detention Center on an $1,100 bond, according to jail personnel.
The clerk of the Circle K at 403 S. Belair Road in Martinez told police that just after 9 a.m., he saw Dinkins enter the store and go to the men's bathroom. A short time later, the heard what sounded like "coins falling out of a slot machine" coming from the bathroom.
The clerk went to the bathroom and found Dinkins preparing to leave. He asked the teen to go back into the bathroom and held the door shut until police arrived.
The suspect told police he found the door of the machine condom vending machine partly opened. He pulled on the door until the quarters fell out. He put the $53 worth of quarters into his pocket.
Dinkins said he has been homeless for two weeks and stole the money to buy food.
Woman frightens away three peeping Toms
An Appling woman called police Friday night after seeing three men watching her through a window.
As she was drying her hair in her den about 8:30 p.m., she saw the men at her window. When she screamed, they ran toward Marshall Road.
Police used a dog team to track them, but were unsuccessful.
Woman says man pulled out a gun at apartments
An Augusta woman told police Thursday that a man with a gun threatened her while she visited an Evans apartment complex.
She said that just after midnight, she arrived at a Wedgewood Park apartment, 473 Old Evans Road. A man was angry that she was there and pulled a gun that she called a "machine gun," she said. He pulled the slide back and said, "I'm going to blast you."
She said he never pointed the gun at her. Witness statements coincide with her account.
Two attempt shoplifting
A clerk at a Martinez Dollar General store called police Sunday after two people tried to walk out of the store with $150 worth of merchandise inside a garbage can.
The clerk said that just before noon, a woman and a man separately entered the store at 210 Baston Road. The man, carrying a large black trash can, said he wanted to exchange the can for a smaller one.
He returned to the register a few minutes later with a smaller white trash can and said he wanted to buy two as the woman walked toward the door with a second can.
When the clerk stopped the woman to see the can, she saw it was filled with $150 worth of merchandise.
The woman went to a car in the lot, then walked south along Baston Road. The man went to the same car and drove south on Baston.
Martinez-Columbia Fire Rescue report for April 19-25:
Structure fires, five; wood/brush/grass fires, four; vehicle fires, two; controlled/unauthorized burns, seven; other fire, one; activated fire alarms, 12; gas-line rupture, one; medical incidents, 23; vehicle accidents, eight; electrical incident, one; investigate various incidents, eight; and assist residents, three.