Fifth homicide of 2023 recorded in Milledgeville/Baldwin County

Two deputies performed a "welfare check" on Monday night at 191 Old Stage Road in south Baldwin County, where a man and a woman were discovered dead inside the residence.

Detectives responded to the scene and ultimately concluded that Eddie Swint, 27, fatally shot his ex-girlfriend – Shy'Neshia Causey, 24 – before turning the gun on himself. 

"(Causey) was going to the residence to retrieve some of her items. She apparently had moved out," Baldwin County Sheriff's Office Maj. Brad King told WMAZ/Channel 13...

Causey is originally from Twiggs County, and Paschal Memorial Funeral Home in Jeffersonville has charge of arrangements.

"She was the kindest, sweetest, and gentlest person you could ever meet—the light in people's lives when the world was dark," Causey's sister wrote on Facebook. 

The incident marks the fifth homicide of 2023 here in Milledgeville/Baldwin County, which puts the county on pace for an annual homicide rate of roughly 11.8. Georgia's homicide rate for 2021, which is the most recent year available, was 11.4, while the national homicide rate in 2021 was 7.8, according to the CDC.

Here's a look back:

• Five males barged into the home at 145 Black Springs Road across the river on Feb. 2 in a "targeted home invasion." The victim – Syee Havior, 18 – was an honor roll student at Baldwin High and set to graduate in a few months, according to his obituary with Slater's Funeral Home. Two men and three juveniles ultimately were arrested. 

• In early March, 10-year-old Damarion Byrd, a fifth-grade student at Midway Hills Academy, was fatally shot while in his bed. The incident occurred around 1:30 a.m. in the 200 block of Harrisburg Road. Two people were inside of the mobile home at the time of the incident – Byrd and his father. At least 17 shots were fired into the home from the woodline behind the trailer park. Numerous suspects ultimately were arrested in connection to the death.

• The Milledgeville Police Department responded to the Boddie projects/Graham Homes on the morning of June 17, and the body of Joshua Corey Jones, 43, was discovered in between a pair of apartments in the 300 block of Evans Avenue. Jones was listed with a Thomas Drive address in Putnam County. A man was arrested in connection with the murder several days later. 

• 16-year-old Desmond Rivers was fatally wounded during a "rolling shootout" in Duxplex City late last month. Three different suspects were quickly arrested and charged with murder.

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