JOHNSON, Ga. — A Johnson County double murder case is moving through the court system after three men were indicted in the death of two Wrightsville teens back in 2021.
Nearly three years later, the people accused of killing the two teens are making their first appearance in court.
18-year-olds Destiny Kight and Charles Garrett were shot to death on April 23, 2021 outside of their future home. They were about to move in together. The two teens, who were dating, were buried together after their deaths.
Their death has shaken the community and their families.
Three men — Daniel Payton Brinson, Dakota Wayne Scott and John Patrick Suggs — were indicted in the teens' death back in December, according to Superior Court Johnson County Superior Court Clerk Patricia Glover.
On Thursday, Brinson was arraigned and entered a not guilty plea, Glover said; Scott pleaded not guilty back in February. However, Glover says Suggs has not been arrested yet, and there is still an active warrant out for him.
Kight's death still hits her family hard.
"I'd rather trade places with her any day of the week,” Kight's father Will Newsome said.
Her mother, Tosha Newsome, said that she "was gorgeous inside and out."
“She loved her family and she had a laugh that was just contagious,” she said. “She wasn’t a typical teenager– she didn’t do a lot of hanging out unless it was at the house.”
She says when her daughter’s life ended, their lives have been put on hold ever since.
“It’s all you think about,” Newsome said. “You’re scared to take vacations because you don’t know if you’re going to have court. Basically, I just want answers. I just want to know why their lives weren’t important? Because they were."
It also makes you think about the events and memories that now will never be able to be made.
"You know these were just two kids. They were going to get married. I'll never pick out her wedding dress," Newsome said. "So, they didn't just take their lives, they took our lives."
Brinson, Scott and Suggs were all charged with two counts of malice murder, two counts of felony murder and two counts of aggravated assault.
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