About 2½ months after his arrest, James Bradshaw Clement was formally charged Thursday in the case of formerly missing Kennesaw veteran Chase Massner, Cobb County court records show.
Clement was indicted by a grand jury on charges of concealing a death and making a false statement to police.
This comes about a month after officials identified using dental records that it was Massner's body buried at a Kennesaw home where Clement used to live.
After a week on the run, 31-year-old Clement was arrested facedown on the rain-drenched parking lot of a shopping center on North Druid Hills Road. That was Aug. 10.
Massner, a veteran of the Iraq War, went missing in 2014. After receiving a tip, authorities found his body buried in the backyard of a home in the 500 block of Farmbrook Trail.
Though it isn't clear if drugs had a role in his death, an autopsy found methamphetamine and morphine in his system, according to the Cobb County Medical Examiner's office.
The report attributed the morphine in Massner’s system to the fact that he “had a known history of heroin abuse,” according to the report. “Morphine is the primary metabolite of heroin.”
The day Clement was indicted was his 70th in Cobb County jail without bond.
About the Author
