Man charged in contractor’s 2019 shooting death in Clayton County
More than a year after he was questioned and released following the shooting death of a contractor in Clayton County, a man faces a murder charge in the same case.
Julius Dontavious Odem, 20, was arrested after DNA evidence connected him to the death of Sang Lee, the Clayton police department said in a news release Wednesday.
Lee had been working as a contract painter at the Gateway at Hartsfield Apartments off Garden Walk Boulevard near College Park, officials said. A man who was on the way home found the contractor lying on the ground in a parking lot just before 4 a.m. June 18, 2019, police said.
The man called 911 and tried to revive the victim, but Lee died at the scene.
Investigators determined he had been shot during the course of a robbery. Several items were missing from Lee’s body, officials said.
Police interviewed Odem during their investigation, and the then 18-year-old said he had no part in the fatal shooting.
“The investigation later revealed Odem’s DNA on the victim,” Clayton County police spokesman Darnell Brown said in the release. “There was no indication that Odem and the victim knew one another prior to the murder.”
In addition to felony murder, Odem is charged with aggravated assault, armed robbery and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. He is in Alabama on unrelated charges, Brown said. Odem is expected to be extradited to Georgia to face the charges in Lee’s death.
About the Author
Asia Simone Burns is a watchdog reporter for the AJC. Burns was formerly an intern in AJC’s newsroom and now writes about crime. She is a graduate of Samford University and has previously reported for NPR and WABE, Atlanta’s NPR member station.
