A 40-year-old Georgia man is behind bars without bond, charged with murder after an autopsy revealed his 80-year-old mother died from severe internal injuries suffered during a domestic dispute, despite her telling deputies before her death that the assault never happened.
The investigation began on June 18 when Bibb County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a home on Woodland Drive regarding a domestic disturbance. According to an initial incident report, deputies found Mary Louise Montgomery O’Connor, 80, outside the residence on the ground.
At the scene, O’Connor told responding deputies that her son had punched her and thrown her around the house. However, emergency medical technicians who examined her at the property noted they did not see any visible external injuries matching that description.
The following day, June 19, O’Connor was admitted to Atrium Health Navicent in Macon. Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones stated that hospital staff discovered she had suffered severe internal trauma, including a collapsed lung. While she was hospitalized, a sheriff’s deputy asked her to provide a formal written statement about the incident. At that time, O’Connor withdrew her original account of the assault.
Because O’Connor recanted her story and deputies lacked immediate physical evidence of an assault at the scene, the sheriff’s office stated in its report that it could not establish probable cause to make an immediate arrest.
O’Connor was released from the hospital shortly after her treatment. She died at her home two weeks later, on July 1.
Following her death, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation performed an autopsy on O’Connor. The medical examiners determined the manner of death was a homicide caused by the injuries sustained during the June 18 incident.
With the autopsy results providing new evidence, authorities secured a search and arrest warrant. On Friday, members of the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, the agency’s SWAT team, and the U.S. Marshals Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force went to the Woodland Drive home where they arrested the victim’s son, John Lyons O’Connor, 40.
Coroner Jones confirmed that the victim and the suspect were mother and son. John Lyons O’Connor was booked into the Bibb County Jail on a charge of murder, where he remains held without bond.
READ: Maitland Man Jailed After Alleged Hotel Brawl With Polk County Deputies
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