GA GA - LaToya Berrian, 19, Macon, 2 Dec 1997

LaToya's case was mentioned in a recent article (first link, below) about retiring Macon cold case detective Jimmy Barbee, though the article is largely information about him, his life and career (and is an interesting read). I thought it would be good for LaToya to have a WS thread, so googled around and found a few more links about her case as well.

Macon cold case detective Jimmy Barbee looks back on 45 years

...An unsolved killing that haunts Barbee happened just blocks away from where he grew up on Duncan Avenue in the old mill village off Holt Avenue.

“Any way you can die, I’ve seen it,” he said.

On Dec. 2, 1997, the body of LaToya Berrian was found on a trash pile near the end of Carling Avenue. She died of a blow to the head before someone set fire to her clothes. ...

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http://www.macon.com/news/local/article37643367.html


Here's one from 2012:

Murder Unsolved Fourteen Years Later

...Former Macon Police Captain Henry Gibson investigated the case. He says they worked it for a year before it turned cold, "There was always leads but there was nothing that was concrete that could even almost identify the assailant," says Gibson.

Captain Jimmy Barbee says Berrian's body was found beaten and left burning on a pile of trash. He says she was last seen voluntarily getting into a car with a man at the intersection of Pio Nono and Eisenhower Parkway....

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http://macon.13wmaz.com/news/news/66095-murder-unsolved-fourteen-years-later

And LaToya's case was featured earlier this year on Macon TV station 41WMGT's very interesting "cold case" feature, with Skyler Henry:

[video=youtube;_OhvZ9QuEm8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OhvZ9QuEm8[/video]

Bumping for LaToya's family, who meet at her grave on her birthday each year: http://wgxa.tv/news/local/family-remembers-loved-one

""I'm sad because she's not here and I'm happy because I was blessed to have her in my life for 19 years. And I would like to say that to those who have lost they children, you know, through violence like this, don't give up," said Berrian."