GLYNN COUNTY, Ga. – A 52-year-old Brunswick man was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after he pleaded guilty to the murder of a beloved Glynn County grandmother.
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Investigators said Dawn Newbauer, 53, was shot and killed on May 20, 2023, around 1 a.m. near Nazzaro’s restaurant at Retreat Village on St. Simons Island where she worked.
Glynn County Police Department officers arrived and saw a vehicle around the back of the restaurant.
Officials said Newbauer was found dead lying on her back across the trunk and rear windshield of her vehicle with two gunshot wounds to her head.
Surveillance footage captured the suspect’s vehicle leaving through a back alley roughly 45 seconds after the shots were fired.
Investigators said a responding officer’s dash-cam footage captured that same car going the wrong way in the traffic circle to leave the island.
Police pulled the car over for a traffic violation and the driver was identified as Ricky Ricardo Easterling.
The vehicle was towed and Easterling was cited and released.
Officers didn’t know at the time that Easterling’s car was the one suspected to be the one in the surveillance video.
After a “Be-On-The-Lookout” was sent for the suspect vehicle, GCPD was contacted by the Brunswick Police Department and learned the same car had been stopped by BPD earlier.
Officers tracked the vehicle to the Concord Suites, where it had been towed.
Investigators reviewed footage from the Concord Suites and saw Easterling walk into his room with two bags he got from his truck before it was towed.
A few minutes later, he walked out of the room and put the bags in his girlfriend’s car trunk.
The car was searched after warrants were obtained and a shotgun and a handgun were found in the bag.
Investigators said Easterling and Newbauer had been previously involved in an intimate relationship with each other.
Easterling made a statement to GCPD that matched the timeline and placed him at the scene, but he denied any involvement in the murder.
Easterling said he only spoke to Newbauer while he was in his car, but his fingerprints were found inside her car.
Investigators confirmed that the handgun collected from the bag was used to kill Newbauer. The shell casings from the scene matched the gun as well.
On July 1, Easterling pleaded guilty to malice murder, two counts of felony murder, and two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.