Five jailed after Georgia brawl

Published 4:00 pm Saturday, February 21, 2015

DALTON, Ga.–Police investigators report a gripe by an ex-girlfriend over $300 led to a burglary, a brawl, talk of a weapon and five people ending up in jail after an incident Thursday morning.

Jordan Nashay Duke, 19, of Tunnel Hill, Ga., was charged by the Dalton Police Department (DPD) with burglary, two counts of battery, theft by taking, criminal trespassing, drugs not in original container and possession of less than an ounce of marijuana after she and three others were arrested after a break-in at the home of Andrew Blue Akins.

In an incident report filed by DPD officer Mollie Parker, Duke confessed to breaking into Akins’ home because she suspected Akins had stolen $300 from her.

Kerrigan Ann King, 18, and Aaron Wayne Morris, 20, of nearby Rocky Face, Georgia, were both charged with burglary and party to a crime.

After police responded to a call of a burglary at Akins’ residence, Parker said in the incident report that she arrived to find Akins in front of the house, claiming there was an armed intruder inside. Parker then heard a loud scream for help from behind the house.

Parker ran to the back and found Tess Little, Akins’ girlfriend, sitting on top of Duke with blood all over the ground and “clumps of red hair and black hair all over the ground as well.”

Akins identified Duke as his ex-girlfriend and said she was walking out of the residence with his television when he got home. Following a verbal altercation with Duke, Akins’ girlfriend and ex-girlfriend began physically fighting. Soon after, Duke and King began yelling for Morris to “get his gun,” according to Akins.

Following the brawl, Duke, Akins and Little were all injured and bleeding. Little sustained injuries to her arms and face, including three “severe” bite marks and all three had bloody scrapes on their bodies.

After locating Morris nearby, officers brought him back to the residence and Akins identified him as the person inside of his house. According to the report, Akins claimed to have cameras on the property and would have video recordings of the burglary and the altercation outside of the residence.

Little, 24, was charged with willful obstruction of law officers. Later in the day when Akins went to the Whitfield County jail to pay the bond on Little, he was arrested and charged with misdemeanor offenses in another unrelated investigation.

As of Friday afternoon, Little was the only one of the five who had been released from custody.

Whitfield writes for the Dalton (Ga.) Daily Citizen.