Woman charged with ‘malice murder’ after 2 bodies thrown into Georgia lake, cops say

The gruesome discovery of two bodies in a “family-friendly” Georgia lake took a curious turn Friday, when a woman was indicted on two counts of “malice murder,” according to the Troup County Sheriff’s Office.

Abbrianna Marie Williams is the second person arrested in the case, and media outlets report the 25-year-old woman lives in Pine Mountain, about 25 miles from the crime scene.

She is charged in the shooting deaths of Marcus Caswell, 46, and Travis Lodato, 31, who were found floating in the county’s West Point Lake in August, officials said in a Facebook post.

The charge of “malice murder” is applied in cases where a death is caused “with malice aforethought,” according to Codes.findlaw.com.

“Malice shall be implied where no considerable provocation appears and where all the circumstances of the killing show an abandoned and malignant heart,” the site says.

Williams is also charged with two counts each of felony murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault and making a false statement, officials said.

Investigators did not say what led them to tie Williams to the case.

Her arrest comes two months after Joshua Nutt, 39, of the LaGrange area, was charged with two counts of murder and robbery in the case. He also faces one count of possession of a firearm during certain felonies, officials said.

The investigation began on the afternoon of Aug. 9, when someone reported a body floating in Lower Glass Bridge Road area along West Point Lake. The 35-mile-long lake is known for “fishing, camping (and) boating,” according to Visitlagrange.com.

Deputies identified the victim as Marcus Lee Caswell, of Newnan, and said he had “what appeared to a single gunshot wound to the victims head.”

A day later, a caller told deputies of “a second body that was floating in the lake,” officials said. The victim was identified as Travis Lodato, also of Newnan, and he had been shot, officials said.

Investigators believe the men already dead when they were put into the lake “in an attempt to hide or dispose of the bodies.”

This story was originally published November 5, 2021 at 10:28 AM with the headline "Woman charged with ‘malice murder’ after 2 bodies thrown into Georgia lake, cops say."