Two adults, child dead in suspected murder-suicide in Canton

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By Angel K. Brooks and Mike Morris

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Three people, including a child, were found shot to death early Friday in what Canton police are investigating as a double murder and suicide.

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Police say one member of a couple killed the other and their toddler before committing suicide at the Alexander Ridge apartments in Canton. The bodies were discovered Friday morning.

John Spink, jspink@ajc.com Police say one member of a couple killed the other and their toddler before committing suicide at the Alexander Ridge apartments in Canton. The bodies were discovered Friday morning.

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Police investigate the murders in Canton. They say an assault rifle was found in the apartment.

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Police responded to an apartment in the 3100 block of Ridge Road early Friday and found the bodies of Christopher E. Conley, 30; his 25-year-old girlfriend Minnie Carr; and their 4-year-old son, Casey Noah Conley, Det. Candy Worthy said.

The preliminary investigation indicates that all three suffered gunshot wounds, and the bodies are being sent to the GBI Crime Lab in Atlanta for autopsies, Worthy said. A carbine rifle, which appears to be the weapon used in the deaths, was in the room next to the bodies and will be tested, she said.

"It appears from the initial walk through that it was the male who shot them," Canton police Lt. German Rivas said.

Rivas told the AJC that Conley's brother discovered the bodies in a bedroom of a unit at the Alexander Ridge apartments around 5:45 a.m. Friday.

Rivas said the family had been having financial troubles and was in the process of moving out of the apartment complex on Ridge Road near Marietta Highway.

Rivas said that Conley had talked to his brother late yesterday afternoon, and that a neighbor saw Conley on his balcony around 4:30 p.m.

“Investigators are processing the scene to make sure it’s nothing besides what it appeared to be, a murder-suicide,” Rivas said.

He also said police had been called to the couple’s apartment once in the past. Last year, Conley, intoxicated, locked himself in the bathroom and threatened to commit suicide.

“He threatened to cut his throat, but when police arrived, he had passed out,” Rivas said.

Neighbor Adina Walker said the family had lived in the complex for about a year.

“I’m shocked,” Walker told the AJC. “I didn’t hear anything. It’s unimaginable.”

The investigation is continuing.

-- Staff photographer John Spink and writer Aaron Edwards contributed to this article.