A man convicted of killing a Cobb County couple in front of their toddler will spend the rest of his life in prison, officials said.
Roy Lee Hicks, 41, was convicted of Anthony and Catherine Costners’ murder Tuesday, nearly two years after authorities say he shot and killed the couple in front of their 3-year-old daughter during a drug deal.
He will serve two life sentences plus 30 years.
Police were called to a Powder Springs parking lot in August 2015 for what they thought was a single-car accident. The Costners’ Pontiac Grand Am was backed into a ditch.
But as police investigated, they made a gruesome discovery: the couple had multiple gunshot wounds and their daughter was in the backseat miraculously unharmed.
Police later found out the couple intended to meet Hicks, who also goes by Roy Brown, for the drug deal. Prosecutors later determined he planned to rob them, Cobb County District Attorney spokeswoman Kim Isaza said.
Two accomplices, Demarco Thomas and Raymond Ladell Webb, were also indicted in the case.
Thomas remains in the Cobb County Detention Center on charges of concealing a death, hindering apprehension of a felon and conspiracy to violate the controlled substance act, according to jail records.
The status of Webb’s case is not known, but officials say he used his cellphone to set up a meeting so Hicks could sell roxycontin, a narcotic pain reliever, to the Costners.
Thomas and Webb are also accused of taking Hicks, who was shot, to Atlanta Medical Center for treatment.
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