A Gwinnett County man accused of killing a pizza-business worker was removed from a hearing Thursday after cursing at an investigator.
Police arrested Tye Stewart and Tremaine Washington, 18, in May for allegedly shooting and killing a Marco’s Pizza employee. Robert Purcell, 40, was found dead in the trunk of his car on the Highway 78 exit ramp. According to Gwinnett police spokesman Cpl. Collin Flynn, Purcell was homeless and living out of the car when he was found.
During the sentencing hearing Thursday, an investigator testified that a woman heard Washington admit to the murder and tipped them off. According to the investigator, gas station surveillance footage showed Washington and Stewart loading Purcell’s body into a car the morning after the shooting and some of Purcell’s belongings were found in Washington’s back-yard doghouse alongside a gun shell casing.
Washington was escorted out of the hearing after calling the investigator “a (expletive) liar.” He was brought back into the courtroom moments later.
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