Abraham Moody, one of two victims in Thursday’s hatchet attacks near Riceboro, died this morning, Liberty County Chief Deputy Keith Moran said Friday.
Also Friday his alleged attacker, his cousin Wallace James, was arraigned on two murder charges in Liberty County Magistrate Court and the case was bound over to superior court.
The other victim, Francenia James, who is the suspect’s mother, died Thursday at her home. Moody died at a hospital in Savannah.
Friday, about 3:30 p.m., shackled and dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit, James appeared before Magistrate Angela Rogers in the courthouse annex.
After a short series of questions pertaining to his ability to provide himself with a defense attorney, and a few muffled and, at times, incoherent answers from James, Rogers said the case was too serious for magistrate jurisdiction and that his case would be handled by a grand jury in superior court in February. Bond was denied.
Upon signing the agreement, James said, "People change."
At one point, James seemed as if he wanted to explain something, but said only, "I'm just tryin' to think. I got two brains in my head."
The hearing was a day after James was arrested for using what Moran described as a hatchet-like weapon to attack his 75-year-old mother and his cousin, whose age has not been released.
Moran has said that about noon Thursday a woman called to say someone was attacking her son at her Barrington Ferry home. She allegedly named Wallace James as the attacker.
Upon arriving in the area, officers saw Wallace James and took him into custody. And he allegedly told them he had also hurt his mother.
That led investigators to the home at 2441 Barrington Ferry, where Francenia and Wallace James lived. Mrs. James was found dead inside.
Wallace James is being held in Liberty Regional Jail.