A man has been found guilty of killing another man and dumping his body in a river to conceal the 2018 death, DeKalb County prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Rodrell Matthews, 34, was reported missing in July 2018, two days after he was last seen at a Lithonia home on Chupp Road, according to the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office. The home was known to be a hangout spot where people routinely smoked, drank and carried weapons, prosecutors said.
Witnesses told investigators that Matthews had a weapon by his side when he arrived at the house on July 11, went inside and was shot and killed by 36-year-old Rondricques Brundage, someone with whom he had prior disagreements, prosecutors said. At trial, Brundage testified that he shot Matthews in self-defense, but witnesses reported Matthews never pointed his weapon at Brundage, according to prosecutors.
On the day of the killing, Brundage enlisted the help of another man to wrap Matthews’ body in a tarp, load it into the trunk of a car and dump it in a nearby wooded area, the DA’s office said.
The next day, the two returned to the area with concrete cinder blocks to tie to Matthews’ body, prosecutors said. They then dragged the body to South River — a small body of water off River Road in south DeKalb — and dumped him in. A fisherman found the partially submerged body a day later.
Before the body was discovered, Brundage and his accomplice abandoned the car at a nearby home on Spicy Cedar Lane, according to a news release.
At some point, a witness called police reporting suspicious activity and a foul smell coming from the abandoned vehicle. When they checked it out, they found blood and hair in the trunk.
Brundage was arrested two weeks later in Tallahassee, Florida, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.
At the time, police charged Antavis Ivey with concealing a death and tampering with evidence. The DA’s office did not immediately respond to questions about the status of Ivey’s case.
Brundage was found guilty Monday of felony murder, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and concealing the death of another.
He will be sentenced at a later date.
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