1st of 3 suspects admits 2006 Forsyth massacre, gets life in prison

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By Christian Boone

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

It was a bloody rampage that stunned Forsyth County: four people, including three teens, fatally stabbed at a popular youth hangout.

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Jason Samuel McGhee (second from left) has plead guilty and will testify against co-defendents Marcin Waldemar Sosniak (left) and Frank Ortegon Jr. (right). The three, seen in this 2006 photo, are accused of killing four people in a rampage at a popular youth hangout in Forsysth County in 2006.

Bob Andres, bandres@ajc.com Jason Samuel McGhee (second from left) has plead guilty and will testify against co-defendents Marcin Waldemar Sosniak (left) and Frank Ortegon Jr. (right). The three, seen in this 2006 photo, are accused of killing four people in a rampage at a popular youth hangout in Forsysth County in 2006.

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By the next morning, three people had been arrested and charged.

Monday -- nearly six years after the massacre -- the first of the three defendants to stand trial pleaded guilty to four counts of malice murder, three counts of aggravated battery and one count each of aggravated assault and burglary.

Jason Samuel McGhee, now 31, will serve four consecutive life sentences, plus 100 years, without the possibility of parole, according to the Forsyth County District Attorney's office.

"It's good to see a resolution in this case," Sheriff Ted Paxton said. "It's been a very trying time for everyone involved."

In a county where there have been no homicides this year, the farmhouse massacre still resonates, Paxton said.

"It was a very vicious crime scene," said Paxton, adding there was "substantial" evidence against the trio. "It was well thought out."

As part of a plea deal that spares him from the death penalty, McGhee agreed to testify against co-defendants Frank Ortegon Jr. and Marcin Sosniak.

They also were charged in the March 2006 attack that killed Kyle Elliott Jones, 17, Mariel Elisabeth Hannah, 18, William Christopher Osment, 15, and Lynn Bartlett, 56.

Three other people were either stabbed or shot at the the old farmhouse off Ronald Reagan Boulevard. A fourth person dodged a bullet, and two others hid in a closet during the five-minute rampage.

It is believed the victims did not know their assailants, who were apparently seeking retribution against one of the home's occupants over a botched marijuana deal.

Ortegon's trial is scheduled for March. Appeals have left the date of Sosniak's trial uncertain.