***************UPDATE 11/11***************
We now have the identity of the young woman who was the victim of murder in Dade County on November 5th.
Leea Abigail Raines, 23, has been identified as the victim in the felony murder charge lodged against Jeremiah Christopher Douglas, 40, of Dade County.
***************UPDATE 11/11***************
Felony Murder charges have been lodged against a Dade County man and registered sex offender after the body of a young female was found on Highway 299 Friday.
Sheriff Ray Cross held a press conference today to release the name of the arrested party. Jeremiah Christopher Douglas of 140 Patterson Drive, Trenton has been arrested on one count of Murder in the First Degree. Witness testimony and video evidence have placed Douglas as the alleged murderer.
Jeremiah Christopher Douglas, of Trenton
Douglas is a registered sex offender for counts of Child Molestation, Statutory Rape, and Enticing a Child for Indecent Purposes; dating back to 2012. Douglas registered as a sex offender in 2018 and was on parole, but had not been out of prison for very long, according to Cross.
Sheriff Cross said during the conference that he’d like to thank his team at the Dade County Sheriff’s Office for working tirelessly to make an arrest in this case as swiftly as possible. He also thanked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation; specifically Joe Montgomery and team; Marion County Sheriff Department; Rossville Police Department; Tennessee Highway Patrol, Catoosa County Sheriff’s Department; Trenton City Police Department; Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit’s District Attorney’s Office and judges; Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department; District Attorney, and judges; Dade County E.M.A.; and Dade County Coroner’s Office.
According to Cross, the victim’s identity is still not released because “she has not been 100% identified.” Her body remains at the Georgia Crime Lab; the cause of death has not been released.
Click here to watch the entire press conference.
by Orey Yates
