The family of a Ludowici woman who went missing in December 2007 wonders whether there is a connection to the killing of Lori Arrowood, the wife of a Fort Stewart soldier in Iraq.
Authorities have no leads in the disappearance of Gail Moody, according to WSAV-TV in Savannah. But her mother, Melanie Clark, told the station that the suspect in the murder of Arrowood lived down the street from Moody and knew her, the station reported on its website .
Clark said her daughter is the same age and height as Arrowood, 42, and even "kind of looked" like her.
She said the GBI did not respond to an email from her seeking information about a possible connection between the two cases.
Kenneth Lumpkin, a Liberty County Sheriff's deputy, was taken into custody Tuesday evening and charged with the murder of Arrowood, Micah Ward, the special agent in charge of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation office in Statesboro, told the AJC Wednesday.
A GBI spokesperson said his office "didn't know" of any other cases Lumpkin was connected to, WSAV-TV reported. Lumpkin was denied bond Thursday and was being held at the Wayne County Jail.
Arrowood was married to Sgt. Nate Arrowood, a soldier from Fort Stewart deployed to Iraq. She disappeared Saturday, and local authorities aided by the Georgia Search and Rescue team and more than 100 soldiers from Fort Stewart combed the area outside her Hinesville home in Liberty County.
On Wednesday morning, her body was found in woods beside a dirt road in neighboring Long County.
By then, Lumpkin already was in custody.
The Liberty County sheriff had called on the GBI for help with the case Monday. They interviewed Lumpkin Tuesday, the GBI's Ward said. Lumpkin was arrested that evening.
A close friend and neighbor of Arrowood's, Terri Groover, told WSAV-TV that Lumpkin was at the Arrowood home doing repairs on Saturday, the last time Arrowood was seen alive.
Groover told the TV station that Arrowood was on his way home from Iraq.
Lori Arrowood's "bio" entry on her Facebook page says this about life with her sergeant husband: "I am an Army wife and love it. I have the best husband any wife could ask for. I would not trade the life that I have for anything."
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