CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A Clayton County man’s suicide attempt revealed crucial information that led detectives to uncover a corpse buried in the back yard of his former residence in Valdosta.
Channel 2 Action News learned that Valdosta police are officially charging John H. Chambers Jr. with a felony count of concealing a death.
Authorities told Channel 2’s Mark Winne that Chambers’ suicide letter indicated the 20-year-old was haunted by taking someone else’s life.
In the early-morning hours of April 15, Clayton County police officers responded to a call about a person injured call at the Laurel Park apartment complex in Riverdale, according to Clayton County police Detective Ken MacGillivary.
MacGillivary said police slowed the bleeding from Chambers’ slit wrists and eventually found the suicide note addressed to his mother, in which he confessed he had taken someone’s life.
The note revealed the corpse was buried in the back yard of his former home in Valdosta.
The information was turned over to Valdosta police, who, in turn, did a records check and found a former address for Chambers in Valdosta, according to Valdosta Police Investigations Cmdr. Brian Childress.
Childress said Valdosta police executed a search warrant at the residence Friday and brought in cadaver dogs that alerted detectives.
Then crime scene technicians excavated the area and discovered human remains, according to police.
Childress said he estimates the body had been buried there for at least a year, and Valdosta detectives are investigating the case as a homicide.
Childress told Channel 2 via phone, “[Valdosta] detectives have been in Clayton County, and we have interviewed several people in the metro Atlanta area. We have received tremendous cooperation from Clayton County police.”
WALB in Albany reported that neighbors believe the bones belong to someone they said was missing for more than two years.
Sarah Gordon said, “We’re just really floored and surprised when we find out that he’s still with us in the back yard.”
Childress said his police department is pressing charges because, “Mr. Chambers had knowledge of a dead body and failed to report it to law enforcement.”
Winne spoke to Chambers in the Clayton County Jail, where he is being held on a charge of felony violation of probation. Chambers said he will plead not guilty to the charge of concealing a death.
Chambers told Winne he allowed others to kill a close family member.
“It was cowardly that I allowed it to happen,” said Chambers. He indicated he is taking responsibility because he allowed it to happen when he could have prevented it.
When asked who killed the victim, Chambers said he didn’t want to say at this time.
Childress indicated police will transfer him to Valdosta within a week to face the new charge. Childress said no one is charged in the death at this time, and Valdosta police have not yet identified the body.
