Nearly two years after a South Fulton father was kidnapped, killed and left in a burning car, police have arrested the men believed to be responsible.
Using cellphone data to tie the suspects to the cold case, investigators charged 31-year-old Anthony Goss and 20-year-old Roy Hill with the murder of Vincent Marsh, authorities said Tuesday. The men have also been linked to three other homicides, police said, including the rape and killing of a 21-year-old college student in southwest Atlanta.
Marsh, a 55-year-old husband and father of two, was found shot to death in a burned-out car in July 2019, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. His body was so badly burned that investigators had to identify him using dental records in a process that took months.
According to police, Goss and Hill kidnapped Marsh on July 16 as he took out the garbage near his home on Pleasant Hill Road. After kidnapping him, the men allegedly drove him to the Bank of America on Old National Highway and forced the father to withdraw money at gunpoint. The robbery was captured on the bank’s security system, police said.
“We think he was pistol-whipped because he was bleeding from his head,” South Fulton Detective J. King said in a news release.
Marsh’s body was later found in the backseat of a red hatchback that had been set on fire at the intersection of Pleasant Ridge and Old National Highway, authorities said. He had been shot in the head, and a .40-caliber bullet was recovered from the scene.
Credit: JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM
Credit: JOHN SPINK / JSPINK@AJC.COM
Over the next several months, investigators asked the public for help and announced a cash reward for information in the case. Their big break came when Goss and Hill attempted to return a rental car that had been riddled with bullet holes, according to South Fulton spokesman Gary Leftwich.
INCREASED REWARD ****$50,000.00**** (South Fulton, GA) The South Fulton Police Department (SFPD) is investigating the...
Posted by Crime Stoppers Greater Atlanta on Wednesday, December 16, 2020
When asked to file a damage report, the men reportedly left the rental company — still in the car. They were later stopped by East Point police. During a search of the rental car, officers discovered several guns and cellphones, including a .40-caliber pistol, police said.
“Both men were questioned about the Marsh case, but were released because of lack of key evidence,” Leftwich said.
After being arrested on an outstanding warrant in Henry County, Goss reportedly bragged to a cellmate about a body in a burned car on Old National Highway, police said. A GBI ballistics expert later matched the gun found during the traffic stop to the one used to kill Marsh, authorities said. Investigators then analyzed the cellphones that were discovered in the rental car.
“One of the cellphones found in the car during the traffic stop showed in its internet history a search for a burned body,” King said, adding that another pinged to Hill’s home.
Using tracking data from the phone, investigators said they were able to trace the movement of Goss and Hill on the night Marsh was killed.
“The information showed a clear path that started from where Marsh was abducted, meandered around the area for a few hours and ended where Marsh’s body was found,” Leftwich said.
South Fulton police didn’t have to look far to find the men after identifying them as suspects. Both Goss and Hill were already in jail on rape and murder charges stemming from the September 2019 death of a college student, according to police.
Authorities said 21-year-old Te’a Denise Liger was kidnapped and killed during a brutal home invasion in southwest Atlanta. A 2016 graduate of Kell High School in Cobb County, Liger was attending an art school in California, but had come back to Atlanta to visit, her mother said.
21 y/o Te’a Denise Liger was a college student, visiting someone at a SW ATL apt complex when 2 men forced her & 2 other ppl into an apt. They killed Te’a. Her Mom said she was a star HS athlete at Kell HS Class of 2016. Story at 5 only on Ch2 pic.twitter.com/UodpW8xA1V
— Tyisha Fernandes (@TyishaWSB) August 23, 2019
Both men have been charged with murder, aggravated assault, kidnapping, armed robbery, arson and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in addition to their previous charges. They remained at the Fulton County Jail on Tuesday afternoon.
South Fulton police said they’re glad to make arrests in the case, but even happier to offer a semblance of closure to Marsh’s family.
“It’s exciting to be able to use technology to solve cases like this,” King said. “But the best part was making the call to the family of Mr. Marsh. We can never bring the loved one back, but we can let the family know that justice will be served.”
Since the beginning of 2020, South Fulton police have made arrests in 96 percent of the department’s homicide cases, according to Leftwich. The police department investigated 20 homicides last year, solving all but one of them. There have been four more homicides since the start of this year and detectives have made arrests in all four.
