SATILLA SHORES, Ga. – Agents investigating the murder of Ahmaud Arbery searched the home of the two men charged with his killing on Tuesday night, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced Wednesday.
The agency said investigators executed a search warrant at the Satilla Shores home of Gregory and Travis McMichael about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Recommended Videos
They did not say what they were looking for or if any evidence was taken from the home. The warrant indicating what investigators were looking for is sealed.
Arbery, 25, was killed Feb. 23 after the McMichaels armed themselves and chased him when they spotted him running in their subdivision after leaving an open construction site.
Gregory McMichael, a retired investigator for the local district attorney, told police Arbery attacked his son before he was shot and that they were trying to stop Arbery because they thought he was a burglar.
The owner of the home under construction where Arbery was seen on surveillance video has said that nothing was taken from the property.
Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, has said she believes her son was merely out jogging.
More than two months passed before Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis McMichael, 34, were jailed on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault.
The delay in criminal charges and a cellphone video of the shooting leaked shortly before the May 7 arrests fueled national outrage over Arbery's death.
Last week, defense attorneys for the McMichaels cautioned against rushing to judgment. They said they soon plan to seek a preliminary hearing from a magistrate judge in Glynn County at which new details might be revealed. They also plan to ask that the McMichaels be released from jail on bond pending trial.
Gregory McMichael worked as an investigator for the local district attorney for more than two decades before he retired last year. Attorneys for Arbery's family and others have blamed the delay in arrests in part on the elder McMichael's ties to local law enforcement. The McMichaels weren't charged until after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was brought into the case in early May.
Meanwhile, the prosecution now resides with the district attorney of Cobb County in metro Atlanta, the fourth DA to be assigned to the case.