No Arrests, No Details In Two Hunting Murders

A pair of separate murder investigations that started during deer season still go unsolved, and little, if any, new evidence has showed up to help solve those cases.

Half a year has gone by with no arrests or even details released
regarding the case of a 35-year-old Blairsville hunter murdered during a managed deer hunt at Clarks Hill WMA.

Jeffrey Shawn Gebhardt and a friend, possible a group of friends from Blairsville, were camping at Holiday Park for the Sept. 21-23 special firearms deer hunt at 12,700-acre Clarks Hill WMA. Gebhardt was reported lost sometime Saturday evening and then was found dead early Sunday morning in a very remote area along the banks of Clarks Hill Lake. Gebhardt had also gotten lost Friday evening, and after wandering back to camp on foot was driven back to where he’d left his vehicle.

On March 19, Wilkes County Sheriff Mark Moore said investigators were still awaiting results from the State Crime Lab, specifically regarding tests on a knife. Reports have stated Gehbardt was stabbed to death.

The second murder occurred in Hancock County on Sunday, Dec. 2. The Hancock County Sheriff’s Office and agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) in Milledgeville are still investigating the murder of 60-year-old Nelson Garner after he was found dead on Sunday, Dec. 2 at 9:30 p.m. Garner’s body was found at Garner’s Grinders, a deer-processing business located at 18630 Highway 16 east of Sparta. The death has been labeled a murder, but the cause of
death is still being withheld at this
point since it’s an ongoing investigation.

Anyone with information that would help in the murder investigation is asked to contact the Hancock Sheriff’s Office at (706) 444-6471 or the GBI Tip Line at (800) 597-TIPS (8477).

There is no evidence that suggests a connection between the two investigations.