Athens killer lay in grave under pallet, shot himself

In the last moments of his life, triple murder suspect George Zinkhan III used a shovel to dig a 15- to 18-inch deep grave in the woods behind Cleveland Road Elementary School.

He lay down in it, took an old wooden pallet he'd covered with dirt and debris and pulled it over top of the hole. He then fired a single shot from a .38-caliber handgun into his head.

That scenario was detailed by Athens-Clarke County Police Tuesday at a concluding press conference on the case of the former UGA professor.

"I think we were very fortunate, given the circumstances and the steps he took to conceal himself, to have some kind of resolution at this time," said police Maj. Mark Sizemore, flanked by leaders from the FBI and GBI, at the police department's Western Precinct at Georgia Square Mall.

"Clearly, looking at that particular scene, it could have been a long time. Really it was only through the vigilance of the groups that worked on the case, focused here and outside our county."

Police also said that evidence indicates Zinkhan and his wife, Marie Bruce, were having "marital difficulties," that Tom Tanner appeared to be his "specific target" in the shootings and that Ben Teague was "at the wrong place at the wrong time." Tanner was shot first, police said.

At least a dozen witnesses saw Zinkhan, a 57-year-old marketing professor at UGA, gun down his 47-year-old wife, Tanner, 40, and Teague, 63, in broad daylight. They were among at least two dozen people attending a reunion picnic of the Town and Gown Players theater troupe at the Athens Community Theater just outside downtown Athens.

Immediately after the shooting, Zinkhan fled in his red Jeep Liberty with the couple's two children inside. After dropping off his 10-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son at the home of next-door neighbor Bob Covington in the Huntington subdivision off Cleveland Road in Bogart, Zinkhan drove off, never to be seen again.

Exactly when Zinkhan killed himself remains a mystery. Police said an autopsy revealed he'd been dead five to 14 days when his body was discovered by cadaver dogs this past Saturday. But they also said there were no indications he'd attempted to live in the woods of northwestern Clarke County for any period of time.

"We have a range of when he died," said Jim Fullington, GBI special agent in charge in Athens. "It's not an exact science like it appears to be on TV [shows]. But the autopsy determined that he had been dead for at least five days and up to 14 days, which is the last day he was seen alive."

Pressed on the subject, Maj. Mark Sizemore said: "We didn't find anything to indicate he tried to live or survive out there for any period of time. In searching the woods, there was no evidence of food or water or anything like that. As a matter of fact there was a bottle of water still in the Jeep. There's no reason to believe he stayed alive out there over a period of time."

No suicide note has been discovered, police said.

Inside the makeshift grave with Zinkhan was a shovel and a gray Puma sports bag containing clothes, ammunition, the .38-caliber handgun and a .22-caliber handgun, one of the two firearms used in the murders, according to police.

Indications are that Zinkhan never intended to flee beyond the woods. His cell phone, laptop, passport, wallet, identification and cash were found hidden inside his vehicle.

"I can only speculate that it is likely that he didn't want to be found and he didn't want the Jeep to be found," Sizemore said. "Clearly he didn't want to be located."

Police confirmed they found a map to the home of Barbara Carroll, a UGA marketing colleague with whom Zinkhan had work-related problems, inside Zinkhan's abandoned vehicle. Police said it was printed the day before the murders.

"She was advised of the situation and given the opportunity to make a decision that was appropriate for her to protect her safety," Sizemore said.