GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A man has been arrested in connection to the death of a 60-year-old in Lawrenceville who hadn’t been heard from in several weeks.
“It’s horrible, really horrible. They found him in the laundry room all wrapped up in some bed sheets. They told me he was beaten to death, all his ribs were broken.” neighbor Richard Fung said of the incident.
Fung was a close friend of the victim, identified as Robert Terry He told Channel 2′s Tom Regan he went to check on him last month after he hadn’t heard from his friend in weeks. He then went to the house on Mt. Vernon Drive in Lawrenceville, and he smelled a foul odor.
“And I went in, and saw his bunny rabbit was dead, and I knew something was wrong,” said Fung.
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A neighbor showed Regan a cryptic text exchange between him and the victim’s cell number the day after police discovered the body. At that point, the neighbor was unaware of what happened.
In the text, the neighbor asked if he was okay. The person responding said yes, that he was transferring his number to a new phone and would let him know when he gets the new phone. The neighbor believes he was corresponding with the killer. Police said the suspect had stolen the victim’s phone.
On Thursday, police arrested 27-year-old Marquis Green at a Duluth restaurant, charging him with murder and theft.
“He stole the victim’s vehicle as well as multiple financial documents from the victim, which resulted in the suspect withdrawing several thousand dollars from the victim’s bank account over a period of weeks,” said Gwinnett Police Sgt. Collin Flynn.
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Fung says his friend loved to fix up and sell cars. He believes that is what brought the killer to his home.
“He came to buy a car Bob had posted for sale, and I guess he saw something and took advantage of it.
Fung said his friend was fun-loving, generous and smart. Terry graduated from Georgia Tech with a master’s degree in electrical engineering. Family and friends are planning a memorial gathering this weekend.
Police say their investigations will continue and there could be additional arrests.
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