Murder charge filed in logger’s mysterious disappearance from 6 years ago, GA cops say
Over six years after a logger mysteriously vanished with only his burned pickup truck left behind, police in Georgia finally got a break in the case.
The newest lead came from a 38-year-old woman who was arrested in connection to the murder of the missing Waynesboro man, Simon Powell, the Burke County Sheriff’s Office said in a July 13 news release.
Stacey Welch was booked into Burke County Jail on charges including one count of murder, one count of armed robbery and one count of kidnapping in connection to the death of Powell, according to jail records.
“She may have played a role in luring Mr. Powell into a position of vulnerability where he was then taken advantage of, which may have ultimately led to his demise,” Sheriff Alfonzo Williams told WRDW.
Welch didn’t confess to murder, Williams told WRDW, but she did fill in details of Powell’s disappearance.
“She has admitted some of her culpability in the crime, and that has led us to (an) additional lead. Here it is six years later, and that finally came into place,” Williams told WRDW.
Despite the break in the case, which Williams said he hoped would help bring Powell’s family closure, officials have another challenge ahead of them: finding his remains.
“Now you’re looking for human remains and not necessarily a human body so we may find bones, we may not,” Williams told WRDW. “So that’s what we’re up against. We’re trying to find Mr. Powell and it’s a tough job.”
By late June 2022, the reward for information about Powell’s disappearance had reached $30,000, according to WFXG.
Information obtained in Welch’s arrest prompted officials to search a pond near Ponderosa Road on July 14 using a dive team, but did not find anything, WJBF reported.
By Monday, July 18, the search had moved to a second pond that was on private property, according to WGAC.
Powell, 63, was last seen on June 1, 2016, and his pickup truck was located the next day on Wilson Road, WJBF reported in 2016. Powell’s truck was burned when it was found, the news outlet said.
The investigation into Powell’s death is ongoing, and Williams said in the release that more arrests are expected.
“Sheriff Williams sends his heartfelt condolences to the Powell family and hopes that today’s development will bring the family some level of closure,” the release said about the arrest of Welch. “We will release more information as the case develops.”
Waynesboro is about 30 miles south of Augusta.
This story was originally published July 18, 2022 at 11:53 AM with the headline "Murder charge filed in logger’s mysterious disappearance from 6 years ago, GA cops say."
