GBI Investigators are asking for your help to solve a Coffee County murder mystery. They say not much time elapsed between when Edith Sheffield was last seen alive and when she was killed in her home Friday night.
A fire destroyed that home, and her body was found the next day. The last person to have any contact with the 49-year-old grandmother was her killer.
Agents are hopeful someone passing by her home Friday night before it burned down with her body inside might yield some clues they're looking for. Broxton massive fire last Friday night that destroyed the Broxton home of 49-year-old Edith Sheffield.
But at the time her whereabouts were unknown. "We were assisted by the Georgia State Patrol. Their aviation unit came in and we flew around the area to see if we could see anything. While that was going on the house was also being searched," GBI Agent Russell Mansfield said.
It wasn't until late the following afternoon after sifting through the debris of the 2,800 square foot house that investigators found Sheffield's remains. An autopsy revealed yesterday it wasn't the fire that claimed her life. "At which time it revealed she had been murdered," Mansfield said. "That's correct. At the point of the autopsy we knew that it was a homicide."
Agents won't reveal how Sheffield was murdered. They do know she left work at First National Bank of Coffee County around 6:00 Friday night. About 30 minutes later, the first call came in about the fire at her home at 10817 Bowens Mill Road.
"There's a really tight time window there and if anyone saw anything prior to her arrival at the residence or shortly after her arrival at the residence, we would certainly like to talk to them and could definitely use that information."
Still, many wonder why anyone would want to take the life of this mother and grandmother whose death remains a mystery. The family did not wish to appear on camera but says Edith was a good, Christian woman.
Fire investigators though still not saying the cause of the fire. GBI Agents would not tell us is they believe the killer set the fire. If you have any information call the GBI in Douglas at 912-389-4103.
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