By Joe Johnson
When Shelby Cox was struck and killed this summer by an SUV, the driver of the vehicle was Jeffrey Tate, the man who she had announced as her fiancé just a month earlier on Facebook.
Shelby posted the engagement announcement on the same day that she filed for divorce from David Cox.
At the time of her death, she was carrying in her purse paperwork for the divorce that indicated it was being paid for by Tate, who would be charged with murder for causing Shelby’s death.
Those are among new details to e merge in what was a deadly case of domestic violence that was played out in public on an Athens roadway.
The information is contained in sworn affidavits by investigators when they applied for warrants to search for evidence in the murder case.
The affidavits were made public last week when search warrant returns were filed in Clarke County Superior Court. A return is a receipt of proof that a warrant had been executed.
The affidavits show that investigators had gathered the following facts about the circumstances of Shelby Cox’s death:
Shortly after 6 p.m. on August 11, Shelby was waiting for a bus on Atlanta Highway near Old Epps Bridge Road, when a Toyota Highlander being driven by Tate left the roadway and drove straight at her, striking and dragging her across three lanes before it stuck a curb and Shelby’s body came out from under the vehicle, which then fled the scene.
The incident was captured on video by a surveillance camera at the nearby Heywood Allen car dealership.
Though he was off duty, ACCPD Traffic Division Master Police Officer Shawn Denmark was called in to help investigate the fatal hit-and-run.
He went to Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center where Shelby’s body was being examined by the county coroner, and went through the contents of Shelby’s purse that was found at the scene of the crime.
The officer reported that the contents included the divorce paperwork, several small liquor bottles, $40 in paper currency, some loose change, and miscellaneous personal items.
A division supervisor showed Denmark the surveillance video that he retrieved from Heywood Allen and then notified David Cox about what had happened to his wife.
Cox and two adult daughters arrived at the hospital where they met with the police officers in a private room. Even before learning about how their mother was killed, the women insisted that Tate must’ve been responsible, saying that he and Shelby both suffered from alcoholism.
When the eldest daughter was asked to explain why she felt that way, she “stated that they argued a lot and it’s a feeling she had,” Denmark wrote in his affidavit.
They provided an address where Tate might be found in Watkinsville and he was subsequently arrested there by Oconee County sheriff’s deputies.
The Toyota SUV’s tag number, which had been named by a witness to the incident, returned to a vehicle that Tate had rented from Enterprise on Oconee Street in Athens, where it was recovered by police. Tate’s daughters explained that he needed the rental because his truck was at a body repair shop .
Tate, 58, was charged with second-degree murder, reckless driving, improper driving, and felony hit and run.
A magistrate court judge refused to grant bail, and Tate remains incarcerated at the county jail .
Anyone who is in an abusive relationship can seek advice and support services by calling Project Safe's 24-hour hotline at (706) 543-3331, or by visiting http://www.project-safe.org
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