PHOTO: Coffee County Sheriff’s Office
UPDATED: February 15, 2019, 3:28 p.m.
DOUGLAS, GA – Coffee County sheriff’s detectives have charged three men in connection to the deaths of 25-year-old Kristian Bell and 35-year-old Steven James Ward.
Bell and Ward were located buried in a makeshift grave on property off Deep Woods Rd. just outside of Nicholls, Ga. on Feb. 9 during an investigation into Bell’s disappearance. Both had suffered apparent multiple gunshot wounds.
Following an investigation into these homicides, detectives located and arrested 25-year-old Joseph James Osburne Burch of Waycross, and 29-year-old Dedrick Allen Johnson of Nicholls. Burch and Johnson have each been charged with two counts of concealing a death of another person and are currently in the Coffee County Jail without bond.
Twenty-one-year-old Christopher Lane Jones was charged with two counts of malice murder, two counts of felony murder, two counts of concealing a death of another person, and one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
With the assistance of the United State Marshals Service, Jones was located Friday afternoon, Feb. 15, in San Diego County, California and taken into custody. He is currently incarcerated, awaiting extradition back to Georgia.
The Coffee County Sheriff’s Office greatly thanks the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Georgia Crime Lab, Georgia State Patrol, and U.S. Marshals Service for their assistance in this case.
Anyone with further information regarding the deaths of Bell and Ward is encouraged to contact the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division at (912) 384-4227.
DOUGLAS, GA – The Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab has positively identified two bodies found in Coffee County on Saturday, Feb. 9, 2019 around 7 p.m.
The victims were found off Deep Woods Road near Nicholls after receiving a call from an unidentified woman advising a home located at 500 Deep Woods Road should be searched. It was a home, according to WALB’s report, where she had been living with a boyfriend and two others.
An active search has been underway for Kristian “Kristi” Bell, 25. She was last seen on January 20. Her father, Jim Bowen, went to the home and found some of Kristi’s personal belongings scattered, including a pink suitcase. Bowen told WALB that he had custody of Kristi’s 16-month-old daughter and he was accustomed to getting texts from her every other day – then nothing. He has been on a personal mission to find her and hoping she would be found safe.
When the bodies were found on Feb. 9, it was feared Kristi might be one of them.
And she was. Along with Stephen James Ward, 35. Her relationship at this point remains part of the open investigation.
According to the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office, Kristian “Kristi” Bell, 25, and Steven James Ward, 35, were identified by fingerprints.
Bell’s family had been searching for her since she was last since January 20.
Coffee County Sheriff’s Office investigators are continuing to pursue leads in this ongoing case and anyone with information is urged to call 912-384-4227.
