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Man lay dead outside sheriff’s office for days without anyone noticing, GA deputies say

A man’s body was found behind an entrance sign at the Newton County Sheriff’s Office on April 26, Georgia deputies say.
A man’s body was found behind an entrance sign at the Newton County Sheriff’s Office on April 26, Georgia deputies say. Getty Images/iStockphoto

A man found dead outside an Atlanta-area sheriff’s office had been there for days, Georgia deputies say. Now authorities are investigating.

William Roberts, 44, was arrested April 22 and charged with public intoxication before he was released the next day, according to the Newton County Sheriff’s Office.

His body laid behind the facility’s entrance sign for three days before it was found April 26, deputies said in a May 1 news release. His cause of death is unknown.

Surveillance video showed Roberts did not leave the area after getting out of jail, according to the release. Investigators said he laid down behind the Newton County Sheriff’s Office entrance sign, “which has zero visibility to the public eye,” after using a portable restroom outside the facility.

It’s not clear why Roberts laid there, deputies said. Additional information wasn’t available.

The incident remains under investigation.

Newton County is about 40 miles southeast of downtown Atlanta.

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This story was originally published May 2, 2023 at 7:38 AM with the headline "Man lay dead outside sheriff’s office for days without anyone noticing, GA deputies say."

Tanasia Kenney
Sun Herald
Tanasia is a service journalism reporter at the Charlotte Observer | CharlotteFive, working remotely from Atlanta, Georgia. She covers restaurant openings/closings in Charlotte and statewide explainers for the NC Service Journalism team. She’s been with McClatchy since 2020.
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