More than one year after a hog-tied Douglasville great-grandmother was found dead inside her apartment, a jury has returned guilty verdicts against a man charged in her death.
A jury found Odes Dupree, 54, guilty of two counts of felony murder, malice murder, kidnapping, robbery and burglary in the first degree, according to Channel 2 Action News.
Dupree tied up 75-year-old Florene Duke before stealing her television sets in November 2014. Duke's face had been covered, leaving her unable to breathe and causing her death on the floor of her bedroom, according to police. While inside the apartment, Dupree allegedly called an Atlanta drug dealer to get help removing the televisions, Lt. James Harrell with the Douglas County Sheriff's Office said at the time.
Investigators believe items were removed from the apartment to pay off a drug debt.
That call to an unnamed drug dealer led police to Dupree
, who had been staying in a nearby apartment at the time of Duke’s death.
“We have reason to believe he had been in her home before, knew what she had, what she had available,” Douglasville police Chief Chris Womack previously told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
According to Douglas County jail records, Dupree was released Oct. 31, 2014, after serving three weeks for a probation violation. In the spring, Dupree spent six weeks in jail following an arrest on a theft charge, according to booking records.
Ten days later, Duke was dead.
Sentencing for Dupree is scheduled for Feb. 15 at 9:30 a.m.
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