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Man charged with killing Macon mother of two

He's accused of killing her and leaving her two young children to find her dead in the morning

MACON, Ga. — A Butts County man is in jail on murder charges after he allegedly killed a mother of two and left her children to find her.

Bibb County deputies arrested and charged 32-year-old Roderick Chester, of Jackson, Wednesday around 10 a.m.

He’s charged with the murder of Morgan Smith and a charge of simple battery unrelated to Smith's killing. He being held without bond.

According to prison records, Chester was previously convicted on charges of aggravated assault (committed in 2007) and aggravated assault on a peace officer (committed in 2006).

He was released from Lee State Prison in June 2013.

CASE HISTORY

26-year-old Morgan Smith was fatally shot and left to die at a home on Walmar Drive in the Village Green subdivision in August.

At the time, Bibb Coroner Leon Jones said Smith’s children, both under age 5, woke up to find their mother dead. They went outside and told a nearby Macon Water Authority employee who called police.

Credit: Courtesy: Keyocea Smith

The children were then escorted to a neighbor’s house before being picked up by their grandmother.

Smith worked at the Cook Out on Brookhaven Drive, which was the location of an attempted armed robbery days before her murder.

An incident report says Smith was behind the register at the time of the robbery, but the robbery suspect ran away after she couldn’t open the drawer.

Reporter Abby Kousouris will have more on this update on 13WMAZ News at 6.

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