GUILTY GA - Paul, 35, & Jennifer Budrawich, 22, murdered, Dawson County, 19 Dec 2009

Jennifer and Paul Budrawich went missing in North Georgia Saturday night while driving to visit her children. Budrawich, 21, and her husband, Paul, came to Dawson County from their home in Effingham County over the weekend to visit (as they do every other weekend) her children, who are in the custody of other relatives. Jennifer Budrawich was found dead Sunday near a Dawson County river.

Late Sunday night police arrested 40-year-old Jesse James Kilgore on murder charges. Kilgore, Police say, is Jennifer Budrawich’s stepfather and also the father of one of her children .

Kilgore’s nephew 27-year-old Benjamin Kelly Mullinax was arrested as well for tampering with evidence. Authorities began their investigation after a chilling 911 call. Police say they can make out three voices on the tape—Jennifer Budrawich and two other men. According to a police transcript, a woman can be heard asking, “Why are you shooting at us?“ Police say a man’s voice threatened, “I’m going to kill both of you.“

http://www2.wsav.com/sav/news/local/article/chilling_911_call_last_words_of_effingham_county_woman/79369/


A second body found in a Dawson County river Monday morning is believed to be the husband of a woman found dead nearby yesterday.

Authorities resumed the search for Paul Budrawich after daybreak on Monday, and about 9:30 a.m., a man's body was found in the river, about 500 yards upstream from where Jennifer Budrawich's body was discovered and about 100 yards from where investigators believe the two were killed.

Kilgore's nephew, Benjamin Kelly Mullinax, 27, was also arrested Sunday and charged with tampering with evidence.


http://www.ajc.com/news/second-body-found-in-249527.html?imw=Y

Whoa! NoZ, he was also her Uncle. Her step-father, child's father and he was married to her aunt?

It's sad as some of the comments on the web are making fun because they are Southern. I mean we have two people murdered here. Children now don't have a mother.

At this link it says when the Judge asked about reading something Kilgore said "reading and writing not too good, but I understand it". The charges he means. So, this child the dad is the grandpop and great-uncle?


http://www.11alive.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=138956&catid=3

I just heard the 911 call where she she is sobbing and says" I can't believe I'm going to die"

OMG, her kids are going to hear this one day.

RIP

I read the links hoping to see the ages of the kids and who they were with, but no mention. If this family thinks an incestuous burglar who can't read and write too good is good marriage material, I hope someone amongst them is taking proper care of the children. It wouldn't suprise me one bit to learn that the child this man fathered is at least six or seven years old.

"The Budrawiches were in town for the holidays to visit her children, who live with relatives in Dawson and Pickens counties.
Jennifer Budrawich’s Dec. 15 post on the social networking site myspace.com states she was thinking “about my babies. I miss them so much.”
Budrawich was the mother to *advertiser censored***, age 4, P***, age 2, and C*****, 9 months."

http://www.effinghamherald.net/news/article/9274/

This statement from the same link was odd...

"According to Effingham County Sheriff’s incident reports, Paul Budrawich’s family received a text message from his phone and pictures on a MySpace page that showed the Budrawiches with the children. But Paul’s relatives told investigators they believed the pictures appeared to be fabricated.

The report also states that Jennifer’s mother received a phone call at 8 a.m. Saturday morning that Jennifer and Paul were about five minutes away from their visitation appointment."

This sounds like it was premeditated. Some of the comments I had read yesterday on the web seemed to indicate the husband, Paul was about 2 weeks away from getting custody of some of the children, and that this may have been a factor in the shooting. How evil can someone be that they kill the mother of a child right before Christmas? :furious:

This is just heartbreaking... I heard this call on the news yesterday At least this woman in what we know now to be some of her last words was able to give out details of where she was to help authorities find her and her husband on the 911 call.

It will be interesting too learn (if we ever do) the motive behind this, this monster who did this needs to beg for his life when his time comes with no mercy. I am so tired of people thinking they can just take someone's life like this and it's ok ! Who made them God. Her children I hope are safe, prayers for her and her husband's family and the children this is just horrific....

This article has a picture of both men arrested

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Stepfather arrested in killing of Effingham County couple
Bodies of Jennifer and Paul Budrawich found in Amicalola River
Posted: December 22, 2009 - 8:03am

A missing Effingham County man was found slain in a north Georgia river Monday, one day after the body of his wife was found nearby. Two men have been charged in the killings.

The body of Paul Budrawich, 35, of Springfield was found in the Amicalola River in Dawson County about 9:30 a.m. Monday, Lt. Tony Wooten of the Dawson County Sheriff's Office said.

Sheriff investigators first found the body of his wife, 22-year-old Jennifer Budrawich, Sunday afternoon in the same river about 600 yards from the crime scene, Wooten said.

The couple had both been shot, most likely by a handgun, Wooten said.

Arrested and charged with the killings were 40-year-old Jesse James Kilgore - Jennifer Budrawich's stepfather as well as the father of one of her two young children - and Benjamin Kelly Mullinax, 27. Mullinax is the nephew of Kilgore

http://savannahnow.com/effingham-now/2009-12-22/stepfather-arrested-killing-effingham-county-couple

Her mother has custody of one of the children and is married to Kilgore, her daughter's alleged murderer. I'm assuming it's the oldest in her custody and that he is the one fathered by Kilgore. I'm assuming the 2 youngest were J & P's together living with his family. Could her own mother have known this was going to happen? I hope not.

How terribly sad....

How sad and sick.

Tizzle said:

Her mother has custody of one of the children and is married to Kilgore, her daughter's alleged murderer. I'm assuming it's the oldest in her custody and that he is the one fathered by Kilgore. I'm assuming the 2 youngest were J & P's together living with his family. Could her own mother have known this was going to happen? I hope not.

Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly! Could it be that since she most likely could not have a child with Jesse, that she wanted to take/raise his child with her daughter and not return the child to Jennifer? It seems odd to me that Jennifer's mother is not speaking out at all. I also wonder what kind of relationship Jennifer had with her own mother.

DAWSONVILLE, GA - It's a bizarre double murder case that has much of North Georgia and many people on the web buzzing.

Maybe that's because one of the two suspects is the stepfather of a victim, was once her uncle by marriage and fathered a child by her.

That suspect, 40-year-old Jesse James Kilgore, said very little when he appeared before a Dawson County Magistrate Judge late Monday afternoon.

When the magistrate asked Kilgore if he could speak, understand, read and write English, Kilgore replied, "Uh, read and write not too good, but I understand it."

Also appearing before that magistrate was Kilgore's nephew, 27-year-old Benjamin Kelly Mullinax.

Both men are being held without bond on two counts of murder and tampering with evidence.

They're accused of shooting to death Kilgore's stepdaughter/niece, 22-year-old Jennifer West Budrawich and her husband, Paul.

The couple live in Effingham County, but had driven to Dawson County to visit some of her children who are staying with relatives.

Dawson County investigators became aware of the case on Saturday when they got a 911 call from Jennifer Budrawich.

Much of the chilling call is unintelligible, but at one point she can be heard pleading with some men, "Why are you shooting at us?"

Later Saturday evening authorities found a car belonging to Budrawich and her husband left in the parking lot of a grocery store in neighboring Pickens County.

Surveillance video, which authorities have not released, apparently shows a man getting out of the Budrawich's car and walking over to another man in a pickup before they drive off.

Authorities say evidence in the car led them to Kilgore and his nephew.

Jennifer Budrawich's body was found in the Amicalola River just a few miles west of Dawsonville on Sunday.

Her husband Paul's body was found only a few hundred yards from the same spot Monday morning.

Dawson County Sheriff Department chief investigator, Major John Cagle, would not discuss a motive for the killings.

He did say they are not related to Kilgore's arrest about six months ago on burglary charges.

Kilgore and Mullinax are set to appear in court again on January 19th for a preliminary hearing where investigators typically disclose a summary of the case

http://www.11alive.com/news/local/s...d=3&h=b5068219afd6cf1736ed1183fa4c99b1&ref=nf

Oh my frippen goodness sakes. He was her stepfather, so married to her Mother, Uncle, so married to an Aunt and FATHERED her child?! My God, I have a feeling that was NOT a consentual relationship. And who was he married to when he fathered her child? And ewww! I am flabergasted. This sounds like something out of a backwoods 1800 story, where the people are uneducated. Sorry, not trying to sound predjudiced, but this is just totally bizarre! I hope he fries!!! Or at least gets lethal injection.

I feel really badly for the families of both victims. I don't understand what would motivate a crime like this. It's kind of hard to understand the stepdaughter/niece/mother of his child relationship- the poor girl was only 22, Kilgore had no reason to be near her, IMO and then he/they killed her husband too. What a horrible crime. Praying that justice is served.

From April 2010:

http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/archives/31635/

Benjamin Kelly Mullinax, 28, told Superior Court Judge Bonnie Oliver he was guilty of all charges in relation to the deaths of Jennifer Budrawich, 22, and Paul Budrawich, 35...

Authorities say Mullinax was not the trigger man, but was involved in luring the couple to the river and concealing their bodies. In the negotiated plea, he received two consecutive life sentences. He will be eligible for parole in 30 years.

Click to expand...

http://www.dawsonnews.com/archives/3642/

Judge Andrew Fuller sentenced Jessie James Kilgore, 40, to life without parole.

Kilgore is the second man to plead guilty in the deaths of Jennifer and Paul Budrawich, whose bodies were pulled from the Amicalola River over two days last December...

According to court testimony, Kilgore, who fathered Jennifer Budrawich's oldest son and is married to her mother, shot the couple over an ongoing child custody dispute.

Click to expand...

I just watched the ID show about this Down by the River and I'm so shocked! At the beginning of the show they play the 911 call.....I know I can't be the only one that heard "my stepdad"? Why did it take so long to make him a suspect?! They didn't even do subtitles for that part of the cal??

Ashley5886 said:

I just watched the ID show about this Down by the River and I'm so shocked! At the beginning of the show they play the 911 call.....I know I can't be the only one that heard "my stepdad"? Why did it take so long to make him a suspect?! They didn't even do subtitles for that part of the cal??

Click to expand...

I'm just watching this show now. I heard the tape, but, wasn't paying close attention and missed what you heard about her saying stepdad.

Did they ever figure out WHY the stepdad, uncle, father of her children MURDERED this couple? I don't get it. Did the killer think the couple shouldn't get the kids back? Did the killer want his child to live with him or some other family member? Were they in a drug deal situation? I just can't figure it out. WHY would the young woman agree to meet this man at the river. He doesn't sound like he was too trustworthy.

So I knew Jennifer and the reason her stepdad/rapist killed them is because he didn't want them to get the kids back(his kid) and it was about to come out that the stepfather was one of the kids dad. Jennifer mom and stepdad took custody of the one child and her mom didn't know her husband/stepdad was raping Jennifer when she was a teen and conceived that child. Jennifer was afraid for her mom to know as well but she started to get worried that stepdad might abuse the child too and wanted the child back. Stepdad wasn't having it and Jennifer threatened to tell her mom and police if he didn't give the child back. Well he finally agreed to give child back and that's why they were meeting with him and thats when he murdered them. And he was married to Jennifer's mom during the time of murders. Jennifer's husband also knew the stepfather was the oldest child's father so he had to get rid of them both. I think he wanted Jennifer and he did whatever he could to hurt her over the years and he especially hated when she started dating and married Paul and had more children. Jennifer was a good person. She had a rough life and didn't deserve to be murdered by the very man who stole her innocence and ultimately her life! Hope this helps answer questions alot have.

I'm going to start off with asking that after I post my reply here that I not be hit with wild and crazy questions and hounded to death as this tragic event still constantly breaks my heart. To let you know, Jennifer was my niece. Her mother is my half sister from my Dad's side. My sister was married to another man when she became pregnant with Jennifer by Jessie Kilgore's brother. Divorced her husband but went on to marry Jessie later on. Unfortunately, no one in my family knew that Jessie was molesting Jennifer but none of us ever trusted Jessie and we all told my sister that she was messing up being with him. She withdrew from my family not having contact with us ever since. So Jessie Kilgore is Jennifer's blood related uncle, step-father and as we found out, the father of one of her children. I haven't had contact with them since our Dad's funeral in 03. I had been to church with my children the night this tragedy took place. We arrived home and my wife said I needed to go to my brothers. I asked what was going on and my wife informed me that Jessie had murdered Jennifer and Paul and that nephew Benjamin was involved as well. It ripped through my heart and soul. Even though I'd not seen her in years, I loved her dearly. Family has always been a strong point in my life the way my Mom and Dad taught me it should be and to love them no matter what unconditionally. I heard the 911 call more times than I cared to and became an emotional wreck each and every time. Yes, Benjamin was involved, but, he was also threatened by Jessie at that time as well as it was all happening from my understanding. I'm glad that the children have been told and going to continue being told how much Jennifer and Paul loved them. They didn't deserve to be taken away from everyone the way they were. I have to follow Christ and His word about forgiveness and even though difficult to do, I have forgiven Jessie and my nephew Benjamin. I don't hate them. I hold no ill will towards either of them but I hate Jessie's ways and the way he got Benjamin involved in the whole thing and ruining his life. I know this seems like I'm just rambling on and on but this is the first site I've been able to talk on to get some things off my chest and help my own pain as well as give some information about this tragedy. I apologize for the long post but I thank websleuths for the opportunity to speak.