Sheriff's Office may be looking at two unsolved murders on same day

Demetrius Hodnett will be laid to rest this Sunday, 16 days after passing away in an area hospital and 40 days after being hit by gunfire on Central Avenue in Harrisburg.

Hodnett, 40, leaves behind a wife and seven children, according to his obituary with Slater's Funeral Home.

To date, the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office is still working Hodnett's case as an aggravated assault, pending the autopsy results from the GBI crime lab and the "cause of death." Detectives actually were able to speak with Hodnett at the hospital at some point after the shooting, but his condition eventually took a turn for the worse.

Hodnett was shot shortly before midnight on Sept. 27, which was the same day as the Chavonta Braddy murder off of Swint Avenue, also located on the southside and a mere several miles away from Central Avenue in Harrisburg. There were multiple drive-by shootings following the Braddy murder, including one in the Wray Homes/West End projects, where a car full of men is accused of unloading roughly five dozen round in the direction of an apartment and 13 people, including four children.

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No arrests have been made in connection with the Hodnett shooting, and the Sheriff's Office is asking anyone with any information to call the anonymous tip line at 478-445-5102 or the general line at 478-445-4891.

In terms of the Braddy case, detectives also are asking the public for help. Braddy's body was discovered around noon Sept. 27 inside the residence  of 129-A Edwards Street, located between Swint Avenue and the Vinson Highway. Braddy "suffered multiple gunshot wounds," according to a BCSO press release.

No arrests have been made in connection to the Braddy murder, and the Sheriff's Office is asking anyone with any information to call the anonymous tip line at 478-445-5102 or the general line at 478-445-4891.

If Hodnett's death indeed is ruled as a homicide, it would bring the number of murders in Milledgeville-Baldwin County this calendar year to five.

MORE READING: Here's a look back at 2022's three other local homicides:

Man's charges upgraded to murder in Towns Street homicide investigation

Who is James Bonner, accused of fatally stabbing his close friend?

Milledgeville-Baldwin County records third homicide of the year

Five homicides would equate to an annual homicide rate of roughly 11.6, which would be 67 percent higher than the 2020 nationwide murder rate.