BRUNSWICK, Ga. - The only survivor among four siblings attacked in a Glynn County mobile home massacre died today, increasing the carnage to eight dead, police said tonight.
Capt. Marissa Tindale, head of the detectives division with the Glynn County Police Department, said Michael Toler, 19, died about noon Sunday. He had been listed in critical condition at a Savannah hospital.
A woman familiar with the family who also managed the trailer park where they lived said that Michael is the son of Russell "Rusty" Toler. That woman and a law enforcement source have told the Times-Union Rusty Toler is among the dead.
Toler's three other children also died in the attack, the woman said. The Times-Union is not identifying the other children because their names have not been confirmed.
The only survivor is a young boy, said a member of his family and the woman. Police Chief Matt Doering has said Michael and the second survivor were initially hospitalized in critical condition. At a 3 p.m. news conference today, about three hours after Michael died, Doering said chillingly that the two survivors were unable to talk with family or investigators. He did not, at the time, acknowledge that Michael had died.
Tindale also said police will be announcing a $25,000 reward for information in the massacre at a 9 p.m. news conference, one of a number of briefings held by Police Chief Matt Doering since the attack.
Doering earlier today wouldn't say whether a man charged with tampering with evidence and obstructing police in their probe of Saturday's mobile home massacre is tied to the deaths.
“I would not call Mr. (Guy) Heinze (Jr.) a suspect, but I won’t rule him out either,” Doering said.
Doering also said there are "no known suspects at this time" in the attack that left eight people dead and one gravely wounded at the New Hope Mobile Home Park. He added, "There is cause for concern. We just don't have a lot to go on. We're not going to tell people it's safe if we don't know that."
Shortly after making that statement, Doering said, "I’m 100 percent certain what happened and I'm 100 percent certain I know how it happened. What remains is who and the motive."
District Attorney Stephen Kelley went to the crime scene in the single-wide mobile home today. Kelley said law enforcement faced numerous hurdles in solving the case.
“I’ve seen a lot of crime scenes in my 24 years and this is the most puzzling,” Kelley said. “What makes it so difficult is the fact of the sheer number of victims in one location.”
Heinze, 22, is the son of slaying victim Guy Heinze Sr., said the elder Heinze's brother-in-law.
Guy Heinze Jr. is also charged with possession of a controlled substance (Darvacet) and possession of marijuana. Heinze called 911 about 8 a.m. on Saturday to report finding someone had killed his family at the rural mobile home park 10 miles north of Brunswick.
Guy Heinze Sr. had been a neighbor of Jimmy Trutt at Ashantilly Mobile Home Park on the outskirts of Darien.
Trutt said she sold Heinz a mobile home, which is still sitting in front of his at the park, about two years ago for $4,000.
"I kind of liked him. He'd come over here and sit for hours,'' Trutt said pointing to a lawn chair beside his steps.
And Heinze did him favors, once driving him to St. Augustine to pick up a car he had bought.
Told that Guy Heinze Jr. had been arrested, Trutt expressed doubt that he played any role in the slayings.
"I can't see Little Guy doing that,'' he said.
Heinze Sr. had been a long-haul trucker and often had several rigs sitting by the road, but business got bad, the trucks disappeared and the elder Heinze moved into the mobile at at New Hope, Trutt said.
McIntosh County Chief Deputy William Jennings said the Sheriff's Office had an open file on a complaint Heinze made against the owner of the park.
Because Heinze had gotten behind on his rent payments for his lot, the owner apparently took possession of the mobile home and sold it to someone else, Jennings said.
Heinze found himself locked out of his own property and called the Sheriff's Office, which investigated, Jennings said.
Glynn police chief warns, "We just don't have a lot to go on," in massacre probe
Doering refused to release the causes of death or the names of the victims, saying he wanted to wait until they were positively identified through autopsies. He said that may take a two or three days. The first autopsy was done today.
A woman familiar with the family and the mobile home park and a law enforcement source said the dead included Russell "Rusty" Toler, a hard-working, poor man who loved his children. The woman said three of Toler's four children were also killed.
About 10 miles north in Eulonia, many of Rusty Toler's extended family were gathered at the home of Elease Davis. A law enforcement officer described her as Rusty Toler's former mother-in-law and grandmother of at least some of his children.
A man, who declined to identify himself, said Elease Davis was at the hospital in Savannah where the two survivors were being treated.
The man said police have not told them who was in the mobile home. "They haven't told us anything, but we know,'' he said.
Two of the other dead were somehow part of the same family, while another victim was the boyfriend of one of Toler's daughters killed in the attack, the woman said.
Doering said investigators had expanded their search for clues in the case from a two-square mile area around the park off U.S. 17 to two spots about 15 miles away. He would not say where or what they were looking for.
He also wouldn't elaborate on statements he made earlier today that a 10th person is involved "who may or may not have killed themselves" and that police had taken an interest in one or more people who were not at the crime scene.
Doering said earlier that investigators are "comfortable" that none of those found inside the trailer were involved in the attack, but they all lived there. He has declined to comment when asked if the case was a murder-suicide. A law enforcement source familiar with the case said he was considered as part of the investigation.
Doering has been holding regular news briefings since the slayings and plans to hold another one tonight at 9 p.m.
John Bryant, Guy Heinze Sr.'s brother-in-law, told the Times-Union by phone this afternoon that his wife got calls from a sister and her father telling her about the attack and Heinze's death.
Bryant, 51, of Illinois, said Guy Heinze Sr. was one of nine siblings born in the Chicago area. He said they were all given up for adoption and several lived troubled lives that included drug abuse. Bryant said Guy Heinze Sr.'s wife died a few years ago in Georgia of a drug overdose.
"The whole story is so troubling," Bryant said of Heinze and his siblings. "The father never raised one of them."
Bryant said he last saw Guy Heinze Sr. about 15 years ago and knew little about his son.
Doering said Guy Heinze Jr. was be held by police, but mentioned no additional charges have been filed against him.
"We have evidence he lied to us and tampered with evidence at the crime scene," Doering said of Guy Heinze Jr.
The woman who knows the family said among the dead is Toler's daughter, Michelle. Glynn County school officials said Michelle Toler, 15, was enrolled in the eighth grade at Needwood Middle School near the trailer park. School Superintendent Howard Mann said he didn't know Michelle's fate, but he added the school will have grief counselors and support personnel available Monday for students and staff.
On Saturday, Doering described the crime scene as "horrific" and labeled the deaths the area's worst carnage ever.
Heinze said reported finding the victims about 8 a.m. in the mobile home park 10 miles north of Brunswick. County Coroner Jimmy Durden said the victims appeared to have been killed overnight. Their bodies were discovered lying on the floor and beds inside the mobile home.
Because of the severity of the injuries, their identities and manner in which they were slain could not be readily determined.
Single-wide, older mobile homes line at least eight rows, 12 homes deep, in rural New Hope. The grounds, most of which are mowed, are peppered with oaks and other trees and the park itself is surrounded by forest.
The grisly crime left the community in shock and tears, and the ripples quickly spread.
Even as the bodies were still being moved from the scene, news of the slayings played prominently on the three televisions at Mudcat Charlie's, a restaurant on the Altamaha River a few miles north. The sound on the TVs was turned up and customers leaned forward to listen.
Elena Pipes, a waitress at the restaurant, said area residents are troubled by an unusual rash of killings: Saturday's slayings and two others a week ago.
"It's not something you hear here every day," said Pipes, 38. "It's kinda freaking everybody out."
Ruthie Saunderson of Brunswick said she was scared and angry as she pumped gas at a convenience store not far from the slaying scene.
"I'm scared and my momma's scared, too. Why don't they [tell] us what happened? We need to know if somebody is out there breaking into homes, killing people," she said. "I feel bad for the people who got killed, whoever they are. I want to know if me or my family is next."
Doering said about a third of his staff of 114, including 20 detectives, are working the case. Federal agencies have offered help.
"There has not been such a number of victims, that I know of, in the history of this county,'' he said.
Hours later, he added: "It's sad anytime this happens in any community. I want our local folks to know that we're taking it as serious as we can take it."
About 12:40 p.m. Saturday, a woman came to the scene in a white car, spoke briefly to some residents and then began screaming.
Belinda West contacted the Times-Union Sunday and said her son was not inside the mobile home as one of the New Hope residents had said and that he is safe and well.
She came to the park looking for her brother-in-law who lived in the mobile home, but whom she declined to name Sunday.
She was driven to the park by Christ West, who is also her brother in law, she said.
"We waiting to here from them,'' she said.
A man who lives next door said he heard dogs barking Friday night and again Saturday morning but heard no shots or any other alarming sounds.
But Saturday morning was different.
"One of the men who lives there came home this morning. He came out yelling, 'My whole family is dead,'" the neighbor said. "Five minutes later, the cops were here.''
The neighbor declined to give his name.
Another neighbor said he was told someone kicked in the front door of the mobile home and started shooting at those inside.
Cameron Serrant, 17, has lived in the mobile home park for five years and said there had been little trouble until now.
"I didn't expect it to happen here," Serrant said. "It's quiet. No trouble."
When nearby residents heard about the deaths, some came to the park to check on the well-being of those inside. Lea Anderson, a teacher at the nearby Janet Macon Middle School, said she was thankful to find a former elementary school student of hers safe.
"I wanted to come here to check on my Sarah," Anderson said of the 10-year-old girl she was holding close. "It's just crazy."
Of the deaths, Anderson said glumly, "It's going to be somebody I know."
Children who live in the park attend C.B. Greer Elementary School, Needwood Middle School and Glynn Academy.
Even some hardened investigators needed help at the crime scene. The Rev. Tim Brown, a Baptist minister, drove slowly into the park about 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Doering said he was there to counsel officers working the crime.
Robert Mosley, 34, said his brother woke him about noon Saturday to tell him about the slayings. Mosley said he was shocked.
"We haven't had any kind of trouble," said Mosley, who's lived in the park for three months. "It's peaceful."
But a 28-year-old resident, who declined to be named because she fears the killer is still on the loose, painted a different picture.
The woman, who's lived in the park off and on for 20 years, said she began seeing seedy people and unfamiliar cars coming into the park about 10 years ago. She said she suspected drug traffic was running through the park, though she never witnessed any deals being done.
"It's not the neighborhood it used to be," the woman said.
The mobile home where the killings took place appeared squalid from the outside, with refuse and toys littering the yard. The exterior walls were green with mildew. A box fan sat in a window that had no screen.
Police stretched crime scene tape around the dwelling and to others nearby, and officers worked out of a big mobile unit Glynn County police use for such investigations.
Saturday's deaths were preceded by two separate slayings in Glynn County last weekend. One man was killed in a robbery on a neighborhood street just north of Brunswick, while another man died in a robbery at a Pizza Hut restaurant. Arrests were made in both cases.
The mobile home park is located near the center of New Hope Plantation. The 1,100-acre tract is all that remains of a Crown grant made in 1763 to Henry Laurens, who later succeeded John Hancock as president of the Continental Congress in 1777.
Laurens obtained control of the South Altamaha river lands and named it New Hope Plantation, according to the Web site.
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