ST. MARYS, Ga. – Five people were arrested Friday and accused in connection with the murder of a man in St. Marys, according to police.
The St. Marys Police Department said its investigation started when a man believed to have been murdered was found Thursday in the water off GA Highway 40 in a park area commonly referred to as “Gilligan’s Island.”
John Andrew Mamph, 29, was identified as the victim.
In a joint investigation with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, suspects and witnesses were identified and multiple interviews were conducted on Thursday evening and Friday morning.
Following the interviews, police said they had enough evidence to confirm the circumstances leading to Mamph’s death. The GBI said they could not release details on how Mamph died or a possible motive.
Anthony Scott Mistretta, 27, Debra Leane Doughtery, 36, Frank Patrick Kennedy III, 55, Megan Leigh Robison, 33, who all live in St. Marys, and Bernice Rose McGuire, 25, of Kingsland, were eventually arrested and charged with murder, police said.
A GBI agent told News4JAX the suspects and the victim knew each other, and all of them frequented the Gilligan’s Island area, where people who are homeless camp out.
Ashley Clark, who spoke to News4JAX on Thursday, said she regularly comes to the area to check up on the people who have set up camps.
Clark said people in the area told her the body was “hogtied, beaten to a pulp and thrown in the water to drown.”
One man said he told police that he knew who the alleged killer was because the victim and the alleged suspect had an “ongoing beef” with each other over a tent.
All of the suspects were booked into the Camden County Sheriff’s Office jail in Woodbine.
According to the GBI, the investigation is ongoing, but they do not have reason to believe there are additional suspects in Mamph’s murder.