Four years after a 25-year-old Walton County man's body was found in a well, his business partner has been arrested on murder charges.
An Oglethorpe County grand jury indicted Victor Blockum of Athens in connection with the 2012 shooting death of Monroe banker Charles Parker, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Thursday.
There was no “smoking gun” that led investigators to Blockum, GBI agent Jesse Maddox told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He said the GBI assembled evidence, and took the case to the Northern Judicial Circuit district attorney because of the “totality of all the circumstances and evidence we had.”
Parker was last seen with Blockum on Jan. 15, 2012, when they went to look at property for a business deal, The AJC previously reported. His family reported him missing the next day. Parker’s wallet, car and other personal belongings were found in the days after his disappearance, police said. Investigators tracked Parker’s cell phone signal to Oglethorpe County, but lost the signal.
Two men walking near a well in Oglethorpe County noticed a peculiar odor, then called police after seeing what they believed was a shoe, the GBI said at the time. Parker’s body was found in the well on Feb. 20, 2012.
He died from gunshot wounds, according to an autopsy.
Blockum is in the Oglethorpe County jail on charges of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, armed robbery, hijacking a motor vehicle, possession of firearm during commission of a felony, and concealing a death.
The investigation is ongoing, Maddox said.