Woman, nephew shot to death in Newton County

By Marcus K. Garner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Two people were found fatally shot Tuesday inside a Newton County home in what investigators are calling a double homicide, authorities said.

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Channel 2 Action News A medical alert brought sheriff's deputies and paramedics to the home outside of Covington.

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The victims were identified as Peggy Molden, 66, and her nephew, 56-year-old Donald McCollough, Channel 2 Action News reported.

"They took a grandmother, a mother, an aunt, a friend away," Molden's daughter Tammy Cox told Channel 2.

Responding to a medical alert triggered around 9:30 a.m., sheriff’s deputies and paramedics rushed to the house in the 100 block of Tempie Lane near Covington.

“They arrived and saw a person down through the window,” Lt. Keith Crum told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “They entered and found the two bodies.”

Cox told Channel 2 that her mother was a caretaker for McCollough, who was paralyzed, and that both he and her mother wore medical alert devices.

There was one incident call to the home in recent months, police said, but Crum characterized the call as “nonviolent.”

The GBI is assisting with the investigation, which is ongoing, he said.

Anyone with information on the case should contact the Newton County Sheriff's Office at 678-625-1400.

-- Dispatch editor Angel K. Brooks contributed to this report.