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Rising Daughter Investigation

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Joshua Sharpe (Photo by Max Blau)
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Prosecutor John B. Johnson III during a hearing in Brunswick on July 13, 2020. (Ryon Horne/RHORNE@AJC.COM)
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On Nov. 11, 2020 in Spring Bluff, Georgia: The GBI exhumes the body of Harold Swain, who was murdered in 1985 inside Rising Daughter Baptist Church along with his wife Thelma. (Tyson Horne / Tyson.Horne@ajc.com)
GBI exhumes body of deacon murdered at Georgia church in 1985
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The GBI search the home of Erik Sparre in the southeast area of Waynesville, Georgia, on Aug. 6, 2020. The GBI said the search was part of an effort to determine if Sparre was involved in the 1985 murders of Harold and Thelma Swain. (Tyson Horne / Tyson.Horne@ajc.com)
GBI searches property of man tied to Ga. church murders investigation
Dennis Perry, center, standing beside wife Brenda Perry gets emotional while thanking the team from the Georgia Innocence Project after they worked to get his release from 20 years behind bars, Thursday, July 23, 2020, in Nicholls, Ga. (Stephen B. Morton for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Man walks free after conviction tossed in Ga. church murders
Prosecutor John B. Johnson III heads back to his area during the hearing for Dennis Perry in Brunswick on July 13, 2020. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation has found that Johnson has withheld evidence in a series of cases that he was legally required to share with the defense, evidence that defendants could have used to win an acquittal. (Ryon Horne/RHORNE@AJC.COM)
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Dennis Perry in a recent photo. (Family photo)
Conviction overturned in Ga. church murders case
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What is the Georgia Innocence Project?
Harold and Thelma Swain were shot in the vestibule of Rising Daughter Baptist Church in 1985. Harold's body lay in the far left corner of this recent image and Thelma's lay in a doorway to the sanctuary on the far right side. In 1985, the vestibule had two sets of double-doors leading into the sanctuary. The church has since been renovated so that those entrances have been replaced by a single set of double-doors, seen here at right. (Hysosub Shin / hyosub.shin@ajc.com)
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