October 02, 2026
28 Years Later — Arrest in the 1998 Cold-Case Murder of Georgia Mom Christy Dawn Myers
Headline card by The Night Desk
28 Years Later — Arrest in the 1998 Cold-Case Murder of Georgia Mom Christy Dawn Myers
Coffee County, Ga. — Twenty-eight years is a long time to wait for someone to say your daughter's name out loud and mean justice when they say it.
On Friday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced an arrest in the September 1998 death of Christy Dawn Myers, a 20-year-old mother found stabbed to death beside her car on the Broxton-Fitzgerald Highway in Coffee County. James Lawrence III, 47, of Irwin County, was taken into custody Thursday, Oct. 1, and booked into the Coffee County Jail.
He is charged with felony murder, malice murder, and aggravated assault.
The night she didn't come home
According to GBI records, on Sept. 14, 1998, Myers left her home in Broxton — where she lived with her common-law husband and their small child — late at night to go to a store. Witnesses saw her at the store and watched her leave alone in her own vehicle.
Shortly after midnight, her body was found near her car along the highway. She had been stabbed multiple times. Neighbors near the scene reported hearing a conversation — then a vehicle accelerating away.
The Coffee County Sheriff's Office asked the GBI's Douglas regional office to assist that night. And then the case went quiet for nearly three decades.
Forensic testing broke it open
The GBI says it was continued forensic testing that finally identified Lawrence as a suspect. The Irwin County Sheriff's Office assisted in locating and arresting him.
"Over the past 28 years, the GBI's Regional Investigative Office in Douglas and the Coffee County Sheriff's Office have remained committed to seeking answers in Christy Myers' death," the agency said in its release. "This arrest represents the culmination of those continued efforts."
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp praised the investigators on social media, saying Myers' family is finally getting "the justice they deserve."
The family waited 28 years
Myers' daughter, Chelsea Wolfe, told CBS News her mother was known for her friendly personality — and that she refuses to let her be defined by how she died.
"I don't want my mom to be remembered as just a victim," Wolfe said. "She was so much more than that. She was resilient and she was a fighter. She deserved to live her life and watch her family grow."
What's next
Lawrence is innocent until proven guilty, and it was not immediately clear whether he has entered a plea or retained an attorney. The investigation remains active and ongoing. Once complete, the case file goes to the Waycross Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office for prosecution.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the GBI's Douglas regional office at 912-389-4103 or the Coffee County Sheriff's Office at 912-384-4227. Anonymous tips can go to 1-800-597-TIPS (8477), gbi.georgia.gov/submit-tips-online, or the See Something, Send Something app.
Reporting for this story was drawn from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's official press release (Oct. 2, 2026), The National News Desk, People, and the Savannah Morning News.
Source: Georgia Bureau of Investigation — read the original report
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