A man who shot a motorcyclist to death in 2017 and then killed his co-defendant two years later so he wouldn’t testify against him will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Carlos Hightower pleaded guilty Thursday for his role in the Paulding County crime spree, District Attorney Dick Donovan said in a news release.
Investigators said Hightower killed 31-year-old Chad Morgan in January 2017 during an ongoing dispute over a Ford Bronco. At the time, Morgan was following Hightower’s vehicle on his motorcycle.
Prosecutors said Hightower instructed his friends Austin Nicholson and Magan Carroll to drop him off on the side of the road near the entrance to Carroll’s neighborhood and return to her house without him.
When Morgan rode by, Hightower shot him, causing him to crash his motorcycle and fall into an embankment, authorities said. Police found Morgan dead in the ditch — his body riddled with gunshot wounds.
The father of two was shot a total of five times, authorities said: twice in the torso, twice in the shoulder and once in the back of the head. After killing Morgan, Hightower called his friends to come pick him up and take him back to the Rockmart apartment, authorities said.
Hightower was ultimately charged with Morgan’s murder along with Nicholson and Carroll, AJC.com previously reported.
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All three suspects were granted a $27,700 bond for their charges, Paulding County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Ashley Henson said previously. Nicholson and Carroll both posted bond Feb. 11, 2017, three weeks after their arrests.
But Hightower’s arrest violated the terms of his parole for a 2012 statutory rape conviction, and he returned to prison for two years, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections.
When he was released in August 2019, authorities said he and Nicholson fired shots into Carroll’s home in an attempt to keep her from testifying against him in the murder case.
“(Hightower) was made aware that his co-defendants, Nicholson and Carroll, made statements to law enforcement implicating him as the shooter, and the possibility that they would testify for the state if the case were to go to trial,” Donovan said in the release.
The following day, Nicholson’s body was discovered in a burned out car on Vinson Mountain Crossing near Rockmart.
Investigators said Hightower shot Nicholson in the side of the head with a .40 caliber pistol from the passenger seat before setting the car on fire. An autopsy later revealed that Nicholson was still alive while he burned inside his car.
MORE: Suspect in 2017 homicide now accused of killing co-defendant
After killing Nicholson, police said Hightower left the scene in a car driven by his girlfriend, Akeyla Philpot.
Credit: Paulding County Sheriff's Office
Credit: Paulding County Sheriff's Office
She was arrested last September and charged with murder, arson, influencing witnesses and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, the sheriff’s office said. She remains in the Paulding County jail without bond.
The following month, Carroll pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in exchange for her testimony in the 2017 murder. She was sentenced to five years in prison, 15 on probation and a $5,000 fine.
Hightower ended up pleading guilty two counts of malice murder, two counts of influencing a witness and six counts of aggravated assault. He was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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