About 90 minutes after teenagers Natalie Henderson and Carter Davis were killed behind a Roswell supermarket, Jeffrey Andrew Hazelwood used Henderson's debit card at a convenience store nearby, Roswell police said Thursday.
Investigators were able to place Hazelwood's cellphone at both the murder scene and at the convenience store, Roswell Police Chief Rusty Grant said. The phone "led us to the suspect and once we identified him, everything fell into place," Grant told Channel 2 Action News. Police also have seized Hazelwood's white Honda Passport, which they said was captured on video in the vicinity and at the time of the killings. The teens were killed at about 3 a.m. Monday and Hazelwood used Henderson's card at about 4:30 a.m., police said.
The suspect was to be transferred Thursday night from Roswell to the Fulton County Jail and will be charged with two counts of murder, aggravated assault, theft and financial transaction card fraud, Roswell police said.
The funeral for Carter Davis, 17, of Woodstock, was Thursday morning. The funeral for Natalie Henderson, also 17, of Roswell, will be Friday morning.
The two were unlikely targets, both outgoing, likable teenagers with big personalities and bigger dreams — a sharp contrast to the man accused of killing them.
Hazelwood, 20, was very close to a girlfriend — it was not Henderson — and apparently had been raised by loving grandparents. But he also had a darker side, according to his own social media posts and some who knew him as a teenager.
Julio Avendaño, now 21, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he met Hazelwood about three years ago when both were students at the former Alternative Youth Academy in Roswell. Avendaño was in a gang and had been arrested, he said, and a probation officer sent him to the military-style school. Hazelwood hadn’t been in criminal trouble but was enrolled at the academy by his grandparents, who had raised him.
“This kid just didn’t seem normal,” Avendaño said. “You could feel he was strange when you stood next to him.”
Hazelwood’s long, dark hair wasn’t allowed at the academy, which required much shorter cuts. “Cadets” spent 12 hours a day there, and teenagers went to the school for a variety of reasons, including arrests, drugs, violence or simply an inability to fit in at conventional schools. Hazelwood, it seemed, was rebellious, though he also was smart, speaking in a way that made him seem older, Avendaño said.
Hazelwood was also something of a loner at the academy, but if students didn’t know him, they likely did know his grandmother, who baked cakes or bought snacks to take to the academy and became a favorite among the students.
“We all loved her there. Who wouldn’t love a lady like her? She was like an angel,” Avendaño said. “Even the bad kids liked her, like me.”
While Hazelwood was still a baby, his parents separated and he was taken to live with his maternal grandparents, according to paternal grandmother, Trudy Darlene Dinwiddie of Moscow Mills, Mo. But Dinwiddie hadn’t seen her grandson since he was a baby, she told The AJC.
In his own social media posts, Jeffrey Hazelwood posted both inspiring quotes and statements about his girlfriend. But there are also darker, deeper messages posted:
“Eventually, the most kind hearted person will grow cold," said a poster he placed on Instagram. "That's when you know they've been pushed too far."
In a post 17 weeks ago, he said, "Why the (expletive) should i live? Cant do (expletive) right. All i do is hurt everybody even the one i love more than my own life and i swore to never hurt. Im beyond (expletive). Theres no one left."
His Facebook page and his Instagram account suggest an admiration for wolves. One week ago, Hazelwood added this message to a black and white image of a howling wolf, showing its sharp teeth: "The wolf is strong, wild and powerful… majestic in every sense… but it still crys for what it has lost and howls for the moon… a love it will never reach."
Other postings and photos contain messages about Hazelwood’s girlfriend. According to address records, it was this woman's family home that was searched Wednesday within hours of Hazelwood’s arrest, though Roswell police declined to say what type of evidence, if any, may have been found.
“I love you, as I have never loved another, Or ever will again” Hazelwood posted to go with a picture a bright blue rose. “I love you with all that I am, and all that I hope to be.”
Early Wednesday, Hazelwood was arrested at a gas station not far from the crime scene, according to police. Grant declined to discuss a motive for the killings or how Hazelwood knew Henderson or Davis.
A memorial service for Henderson will be held Friday at 10 a.m. at Roswell Presbyterian Church, 755 Mimosa Blvd, in Roswell, according to her online obituary. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be sent to Companion Animal Connection in Waleska.
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