DECATUR, Ga. – A grand jury has indicted Gregory Williams in the death of his grandmother, Millicent Williams.
On Thursday, the DeKalb County grand jury returned a five-count indictment on charges of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, concealing a death and theft by taking.
Millicent, 78, when missing on July 24.
Police started their search across several acres of land and bodies water in Decatur, Ga., for Millicent, two days later. But all they have found is blood, mud and signs of a struggle.
"That raised our suspicions—and that forced us to act," Major J.A. Lewis, of the major crimes unit, said after police searched Flat Shoals Park said during the search.
Police searched her home, on Brookgreen Point, in Decatur, where they believe she was the victim of foul play, and as a result, charged her 35-year-old grandson, Gregory in her murder.
“She is missing under suspicious circumstances. Her house was in disarray. There was blood in the home, so they do believe that harm has come to her,” DeKalb County Police spokeswoman, Shiera Campbell, said.
So, what happened to the grandmother, who friends and family, refer to as Millie? And what happened between her and the grandson she lived with?
November 1999 | Gregory enlists in the U.S. Army. By May 2002, he is an E-2 private and petroleum lab specialist and leaves the Army.
He is no longer serving and was never deployed.
July 25, 2011 | Millie files a petition for a protective order fearing for her life.
She tells police, he was "walking around house naked. Telling family members to perform oral sex on him.
Constantly approaching me to hit me and telling me, 'I better watch myself.' He pushed me up against the wall. Verbally threatening me every day. Challenging multiple neighbors to fight and going to their homes.
Threatening to rape me—making sexual remarks. I am his grandmother. He is mentally ill and a vet," she described in her petition to the court.
Millie stated that three days later, he "took keys out of my purse and locked me in. He cut the phone line. At the time he locked me in, he was locked in his room."
Dec. 4, 2014 | Just before Christmas in 2014, Millie tells police that her grandson, a veteran with PTSD, threatened to kill her. She told police that he broke objects in her home, scared her by rushing up on her and slammed her hand in a door.
“If you try to open my door, I’ll crack your neck,” she told police in her petition for a protective order against her grandson, who she said did not take his medication for PTSD.
Millie files a Family Violence Act petition with the Superior Court of DeKalb County, in which she requests that he return her laptop, seven house keys and garage door opener, as well as pay for damages he created in the walls, door, nightstand and kitchen sink.
She also pleads with the court to mandate her grandson follow up with a psychiatric treatment plan.
Dec. 17, 2014 | An order of protection is issued by the court, refraining Gregory from coming within 100 yards of Millie or her home.
However, when he does not comply with the court-imposed protection orders, he is charged with violating those orders, as well as aggravated stalking.
Sunday, July 23, 2017 | Grandmother had filed a restraining order against grandson in the past.
Gregory allegedly attacks Millie with a knife, killing her, inside her bedroom.
“Accused did make an assault upon the person Millicent Williams with a Rambo style [sic] knife a deadly weapon or with any object/device/instrument which when used offensively is likely to or actually does result in serious bodily injury by forcing entry into her bedroom and attacking her,” as stated in the arrest warrant.
He then puts her body into her 2014 Toyota Corolla, and took her to an unknown location.
Monday, July 24 | Family has not heard from Millie.
Police answer a concerned call from Gregory’s father, who has found bloody sheets in the garage, as well as “a lot of blood” on the bed and floor.
They go to her Decatur, Ga., home for a wellness check—but they don’t find Millie.
Her car and phone are missing as well.
They find blood.
Police execute a search warrant and determine she has not lived through the attack because she has lost multiple liters of blood.
“[The] quantity of blood indicative that no person would survive loss of that quantity of blood.”
Wednesday, Aug. 2 | The TAC unit continues their search on ATVs at 4 p.m., at Georgia Power Plant off Klondike. Detectives search at River Road and Sycamore Bend.
Gregory was arrested at the Kroger, located at the intersection of Flakes Mill and Flat Shoals Parkway just before 1 p.m., after police spotted him inside his grandmother’s car, a 2014 Toyota Corolla in the parking lot, DeKalb County Police Lt. Lonzy Robertson said.
He was charged with aggravated assault, kidnapping and theft by taking vehicle, and is a person of interest in her disappearance. He refuses to tell police where her body is.
Wednesday, Aug. 16 | Detectives uncover her body in a wooded area near Interstate 20 after a tip came in.
The medical examiner determined that she died from a sharp force trauma to her head.
Thursday, Oct. 26 | A DeKalb County grand jury indicted Gregory on five counts, including murder. He remains in the DeKalb County Jail.
The case will be prosecuted by the DeKalb County District Attorney’s major case unit.
A trial date had not be set.
