The Augusta Chronicle
Columbia County Bureau – April 21, 1999
View on Chronicle.August.com

McDuffie County sheriff’s deputies found a young black male dead from an apparent gunshot wound to the head on Interstate 20 Tuesday afternoon.

The body was discovered after the Georgia State Patrol received a call around 1 p.m. that there was an abandoned car near mile marker 168 on I-20, said McDuffie County Sheriff Logan Marshall.

“The state patrol got involved at the scene of the crime after they got a call from a respondent,” Sheriff Marshall said. “We don’t know where the call came from.”

Sheriff Marshall said the victim was found in the back seat of a Chevrolet Impala with a gunshot wound to his temple. The rear windshield of the car was shattered, where the bullet apparently exited the car.

Police would not release the victim’s identity because relatives had not been notified. They said there did not appear to have been any robbery.

FBI agents suspect that the victim may be the gunman in the murder of a 22-year-old Alabama man that occurred late Monday afternoon.

Jonathan Lamont Tolbert, 22, of Troy, Ala., was shot and killed Monday evening while looking at cars with a friend at The Lemon Car Lot in Fort Rucker, Ala.

Two black males in a small, green vehicle with North Carolina tags stopped to talk to Mr. Tolbert and his friend, and at some point one of the men pulled a gun and shot Mr. Tolbert, according to FBI agents assigned to the case.

After the shooting, the suspect who fired the gun left in Mr. Tolbert’s 1995 black Chevrolet Impala SS, Alabama tag 55BF874, while the other suspect left in the green car. Mr. Tolbert’s friend was unharmed, said FBI agents.

The suspect who shot Mr. Tolbert was described as a black male with slender build, wearing blue jeans, a white short-sleeved shirt and black boots.

The description of the shooter matches that of the victim found in McDuffie County in Mr. Tolbert’s black Impala.

A gun similar to the one used in the shooting death of Tolbert was found under the body, said FBI agents.

McDuffie County authorities on the scene would not say whether foul play was suspected or if the two deaths were related.

“We are aware of the situation in Alabama, but right now, we are not absolutely sure that the two are connected,” said John Seay, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent in charge. “We are looking into the possibility that there is a connection, but we expect to know more tomorrow.”