Coroner releases name of Augusta’s latest slaying victim

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - The Richmond County Coroner’s Office has identified a homicide victim whose body was found this week outside an Augusta home.

The death of Brittany Kristina Dougherty, 29, of Augusta, is being investigated as a homicide after her body was found Tuesday in the yard of a home in the 1500 block of Conklin Lane.

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She was among six people in the CSRA slain in six days during a wave of violent crime that’s sweeping the region.

Her body was found around 11:54 a.m. Tuesday and she was pronounced dead at 12:24 p.m., according to Coroner Mark Bowen.

From the start, the death was considered suspicious, but Bowen ruled later in the day that it was a homicide.

An autopsy will be performed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, according to Bowen

Amid the wave of killings, Richmond County Sheriff Richard Roundtree vowed Tuesday to stop the violence.

“The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office is acutely aware of the uptick in homicides within the last week,” he said. “The Sheriff’s Office is taking decisive action to investigate these homicides as well as to prevent others in the future.”

In addition to the Conklin Lane homicide:

• Shortly before 11 p.m. Monday, Jenefer Holt Herron, 52, of Augusta, was fatally shot outside a Circle K at 1739 Walton Way, reportedly after an argument in the parking lot. Yelena Buckner, 33, of Augusta, was arrested.
• At 7:23 a.m. Monday, deputies were called to the 1900 block of Old Savannah Road, where a passing motorist found Johnnie Coleman, 72, of Augusta, who’d been shot dead.
• JaJuan Russell, 21, of the 700 block of East Chapman Street, was fatally shot early Sunday in the 3700 block of Oslo Road. Russell was taken to Augusta University Medical Center. He was pronounced dead at 1:14 a.m. An autopsy was scheduled with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
• Sandersville police found the body of a man Saturday afternoon inside a home on Gwendolyn Street while responding to a report of a domestic dispute at the address. Santavious Louis Roberts, 35, of Sandersville, has been arrested.
• Brandon Peebles, 24, of Girard, was shot around 10:45 p.m. Thursday in the 2300 block of Prague Court, the same neighborhood as Sunday’s shooting. He was pronounced dead at 11:23 p.m. Bowen said the victim’s body was sent to the GBI.

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