Hall County

Missing woman’s body possibly found in shallow grave leads to massive Hall County manhunt

Keegan Phillips (L) and Robert Peppers (R) (Rabun County Sheriff's Office)

HALL COUNTY, Ga. — Earlier this week, authorities in Hall County were joined by state and local officials in an hours-long manhunt for murder suspect Keegan Phillips.

The Rabun County Sheriff’s Office is now releasing new details about what led up to the manhunt.

Investigators say they were made aware of the possible murder of Martha Angela Ledford on Sunday, who had not been seen since the week before.

Later that day, Rabun County deputies and GBI agents found a shallow grave in the Chattahoochee National Forest where they believed a body had been buried. On Monday, a K9 found human remains that were not able to be identified.

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They say they are still waiting on the GBI Crime Lab to positively identify the body as Ledford.

On Tuesday, authorities secured murder warrants for Phillips. While GBI and FBI agents were preparing to arrest Phillips, they learned he was being held at gunpoint by a homeowner in Hall County.

Before they arrived at the home, Phillips escaped. He was arrested later Tuesday night and taken back to Rabun County.

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As investigators continued collecting evidence, they arrested Robert Lee Peppers and charged him with concealing a death and abandonment of a dead body.

Both Phillips and Peppers are being held in the Rabun County Jail.

It’s unclear if Phillips and Ledford knew one another.

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