News 12 at 11 o'clock -- July 22, 2010

BURKE COUNTY, Ga. -- A murder suspect is in jail, but fear is still on the loose in Waynesboro a month after the death of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon.

Neighbors don't feel safe in their own homes after an elderly couple is murdered and now leaders with several law enforcement agencies are trying to change that.

On Father's day, investigators found the Gordons murdered in their Waynesboro home, which investigators was a robbery that turned violent.

Even though police have made an arrest others in the community are still worried.

In a moment of silence, remembering the Gordons, people bowed their heads and held hands tightly, symbols of a community still in pain.

"It's been hard," said Stephanie Huff, one of the Gordons granddaughters. "But we're going to get through it. Faith plays an important part in our family and it gets us by."

Like the community, family members came out to get answers especially since the suspect Tony Grubbs, has an extensive record of crimes before allegedly killing the Gordons.

"I refuse to believe that any assessment could not have shown that the heinous crime that this young man did, was not alerted to," said another family to members of the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles.

"All of the sentences the suspect received were over," said Steve Hayes, spokesman from the pardons and paroles board. "The system could not hold him in prison any longer."

And that scares neighbors because they worry more could be out there.

"The system isn't perfect," Hayes said. "Over 90 to 95 percent of the community is going to return to the community."

That's exactly why this panel of community leaders, including state lawmakers, is teaming up to help, starting with the Burke County Sheriff's Office.

"We've had a lot of people scared so we're going to try and give extra patrols in the neighborhood and step up patrols," Sheriff Greg Coursey said.

But even with extra patrols he said the community has to help too.

"The best thing you can do is be a nosy neighbor and report anything no matter how insignificant you may think it is," Sheriff Coursey added.

"My word today is responsibility," Huff said. "Being elderly, the people in the community have to take responsibility and until you take the responsibility you can't expect for anything to change."