RABUN COUNTY, GEORGIA: A man who was driving along a rural road picked up a hitchhiker who later turned out to be a murder suspect. According to the authorities, the Rabun County Sheriff’s Office had received information that a man “killed a person and disposed of the body,” and reached out to state law enforcement for help in the probe on Sunday, August 6.
The suspect, Keegan Phillips, 23, may have been carrying evidence of the crime when he was picked up by the side of the road. “He just stuck his hand out, just very quickly. I told my son, ‘Let’s get him,'”, the driver Russell Jimmerson told local NBC affiliate WXIA.
Who is Keegan Phillips?
Officials in Georgia announced Tuesday, August 8, that Phillips was apprehended after an hours-long manhunt. As per the authorities, the victim was found a day before in the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) said in the statement that Phillips was arrested “without incident” on Tuesday following a multi-agency search in the area of Gillsville Highway. Jimmerson said that he had been in his car just hours earlier.
What did the car driver say?
Jimmerson claimed that he was picking up his paycheck on Tuesday morning when he saw a man walking, the outlet reported. He was not aware of who the man was and instead decided to pick him up when it appeared that the man was looking for a ride. “I help everybody,” Jimmerson added.
He said that Phillips indicated that he had “been up all night, walking from Rabun County.” Rabun and Hall counties are separated by around 60 miles and two additional counties.
Phillips had a backpack?
The driver said that the suspect had a backpack and that he smelled awful. It was only later Jimmerson came to realize in a phone call that he had briefly traveled with a murder suspect. “‘You won’t believe what happened,” he was told. “‘A guy in Rabun County murdered someone last night and has their head.'”
Jimmerson recalled the hitchhiker, his backpack, and the foul smell he carried. “‘Man, you won’t believe what I’m fixing to tell you,'” Jimmerson said, describing what he told his friend after the shocking incident and learning that he had briefly traveled with a murder suspect. “‘There’s a smell in this car that’s awful.'”
“My buddy said, ‘Is this a joke? Did you pick up the hitchhiker?'” he told the station. “I said, ‘No, I really did.'” The GBI said that a second defendant in the case, Robert Lee Peppers, age 62, of Lula, Georgia has been charged with concealing a death and unlawful disposal of a body. Both the suspects are now held at the Rabun County Detention Center.
