COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — A jury found a man guilty of murdering and hiding the body of a Coweta County woman more than 30 years ago, Coweta County District Attorney John Cranford Jr. announced in a news release.
Kevin James Lee was convicted of killing Ann Margret Berry in 1991. Berry’s remains were not found until 2011, and it wasn’t until 2019 when Lee was arrested in California and sent to Georgia to face trial.
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According to the release, Lee and Berry were in a relationship and Berry was expecting her third child in spring 1991. Family and friends said that the couple’s relationship was troubled and that they would see bruises and other marks on Berry.
Berry’s sister said Berry was planning to leave Lee, and on July 31, 1991, she said Berry called to say she was packing herself and her children to come to her sister’s house. Berry never showed up and was never seen alive again.
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Officials said Lee gave inconsistent accounts about Berry running away, but never filed a missing person’s report. Berry’s sister did file a report and kept the search up for her missing sister.
In April 2011, two boys were camping in the woods and found a buried plastic bag with skeletal remains. The remains were tested and identified as Berry’s.
A warrant was issued for Lee in May 2012, but it would be several more years before he was found living in California. He was finally arrested and extradited to Coweta County in 2019.
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Lee was sentenced to life in prison for murder and concealing the death of a victim.
Cranford said in the release that he has “immense respect for the victim’s sister, who never stopped looking for her and who fought for justice for 30 years.”
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