Here is our annual look back at the top stories in 2013.
1. 2013 began with a shock when the partial remains of a Chatham County man were found inside a Whitehall Avenue home in Rincon.
The discovery of the partial remains of Charles Ray III, known as Charlie, came following an almost five-hour hostage standoff with law enforcement on Jan. 11 at the home of Chad and Kimberly Moretz.
Ray’s torso and limbs were found dismembered in bags tossed in a storage unit rented by Kimberly Moretz in Jasper County, S.C., deputies said.
Charlie Ray had been reported missing from home on Jan. 3, 2013.
Savannah-Chatham police and an Effingham County deputy went to the Moretz home on Whitehall Avenue in Westwood Heights on Jan. 11 to question Ray’s one-time friend, Chad Moretz, about Ray’s disappearance.
When officers knocked on the door, Chad Moretz’s brother-in-law, Kevin Lambert, opened the door and told officers Moretz was inside with a weapon and would not come out alive.
Lambert also informed officers that Lambert’s sister, Kimberly Moretz, was inside. Kimberly Moretz was the wife of Chad Moretz.
The officers then grabbed Lambert away from the home, and at that point there was a hostage situation.
After the standoff with police, Chad Moretz was shot to death by a Savannah-Chatham SWAT team member when he exited the home brandishing a rifle. Moretz had also threatened to shoot deputies during the standoff.
Moretz was carrying an AR-15 rifle and a .357-caliber Magnum handgun in his waistband, deputies said.
Police believe Chad Moretz stabbed Charlie Ray to death in the kitchen of his Whitehall Avenue home on Jan. 2.
Investigators recovered several knives and a chainsaw from the Whitehall Avenue home.
Effingham County Sheriff’s Office spokesman David Ehsanipoor said the kitchen floor of the home showed signs of blood and an attempt had been made to clean the floor.
Both Lambert and Kimberly Mortez were arrested on Jan. 11, 2013. They were charged with concealing a body, tampering with evidence and hindering the apprehension and prosecution of a criminal.
Kevin Lambert pleaded guilty on Aug. 6, 2013 to hindering the apprehension of a criminal in the case.
Superior Court Judge F. Gates Peed sentenced Lambert to five years of probation. Lambert is required him to stay out of the Ogeechee Judicial Circuit and stay away from Ray’s family.
Lambert had been in jail since January and was given credit for time served.
A trial date has not been set for Kimberly Moretz. Her bond was revoked in September when she traveled to Florida. As a condition of her bond she was supposed to remain in Effingham County. She had asked Judge Peed for permission to travel to Florida in February and he had denied the request.
2. The Effingham County Industrial Development Authority had a big year in 2013.
In March the IDA announced Medient Studios would be making Effingham County its home for a 90 million movie studio and entertainment complex.
Ground was broken in August of 2013 for the Medient facility at land near Interstate 16 owned by the Effingham Industrial Development Authority.
The complex is expected to eventually create about 1,000 jobs, with about one-fourth of those coming from outside the area.
Also in August of last year, IDA CEO John Henry and IDA Chairman, Dennis Webb, came home from Shanghai, China with a prize.
Hubei Xingfa Chemicals Group announced it would open is U.S. headquarters and a manufacturing plant in the IDA’s industrial park off Ga. 21.
The Chinese company is expected to create 50 jobs that will pay an average of $45,000 per year.
Xingfa makes phosphate and fine chemicals that are used as additives in products such as toothpaste, according to Henry.
3. The forced resignations of the county administrator, David Crawley, and county clerk, Patrice Crawley, dominated headlines in the spring.
Insinuations of misappropriation of funds and allegations of misdeeds turned up by the county’s annual audit swirled around the couple. One commissioner said the resignations were the result of a vendetta by three other commissioners, and the issue split the board 3-2. In the end, while the Crawleys were forced from their jobs, the auditor reported it appeared no employees had misappropriated any funds. After the auditor’s independence was questioned and a constitutional officer said they would not work with auditor, the auditor resigned in October.
4. The turmoil at county offices continued through the summer when problems in the finance director’s office began to surface.
Effingham Now reported in July the county had overpaid payroll liability by $489,000, overpaid a lease for five years and failed to deposit to state checks in a timely fashion. One check for $574,000 was dated Jan. 11 and not deposited until April 4.
Finance director Joanna Wright and her office continued to make headlines in September when Effingham Now reported the content of county emails obtained through a state Open Records request.
The emails showed a pattern of the county making late payments to vendors.
The emails covered a five week period and showed repeated inquires from vendors asking why they hadn’t been paid. The emails included queries about a temporary worker being paid late and an engineering firm looking for a $33,000 payment that was more than 120 days old.
5. The exploitation of children unfortunately made the news throughout 2013.
The story with the most online views involved a Rincon couple arrested in July on child pornography related charges. The couple are accused of possessing video files that depicted sexual acts involving minors as young as 8 to 10 years old.
Several other similar arrests were made, including the arrest of eight men in April, a Savannah man in June, a Guyton man in July and a Guyton man in August. The Effingham County Sheriff Office’s Internet Crimes against Children Task Force was involved in many of the cases.
6. Jail construction
A big project for the county began in February with the ground breaking for the new jail. The 328-bed facility will be paid for with $15.5 million in sales tax money. Plans include a new building that will have more than 50,000 square feet and house 200 inmates. Construction is well underway and the project is expected to be finished in late spring.
7. County commissioners agreed to an out-of-court settlement with King America Finishing in October, but the amount of the settlement still has not been released. The settlement is due to the May 2011 fish kill on the Ogeechee River. The county’s boat landing at Steel Bridge, off Ga. 119, was closed during the kill. The fish kill began just below King America’s discharge pipe. The amount of the settlement will be public record once all parties have executed the documents.
8. November was a difficult month for many when three young brothers were killed in fiery crash on Nov. 21. The boys were Wesley Mulligan, 18, Garrett Mulligan, 16, and 3-year-old Eli Hickox. The boys were killed when their pickup truck collided with a tanker truck carrying 8,800 gallons of gasoline. The fire damaged Ga. 17 near Marlow Road, causing the road to be closed several days for repairs.
In late September we were all stunned when five people died in four separate traffic accidents in one week.
Killed were Jerry Jarrell, 58; Frank Stacy, 21; Spc. Michael Lee Myers, 33; Henry Longworth, 20 and his sister, Lacey Danielle Longworth, 17.
9. An Effingham County pit bull dog made headlines for the second year as the courts decided his fate.
Kno attacked a 5-year-old boy in 2012. The dog was taken to the animal shelter where he lived for a year whiled a court-appointed attorney argued the dog’s life should be spared. A judge ruled the dog was not vicious. Kno was then taken in by an upstate New York animal rescue center and renamed, Noah. As part of the court agreement the dog is not allowed around children and can’t be adopted out.
10. 2013 wasn’t without a few odd arrests and news stories.
In April a Springfield man was arrested for stabbing a pig. The pig was also attacked by two dogs. The pig, a family pet named Oliver, suffered 23 stab wounds in the attack. The incident was video taped. One of the dog’s owners was arrested in the case in June. Oliver survived the attack.
A Springfield man was charged with driving under the influence in April when the tractor he was driving crashed into a car on Ga. 21. The man was attempting to cross Ga. 21 near Ralph Rahn Road when the tractor was hit by an oncoming car.
In what was most likely not their smartest move, a Rincon couple found themselves in jail after taking a FedEx home delivery of over three pounds of marijuana.
Authorities in California let the Effingham Sheriff’s Office know a narcotics K-9 officer had alerted on the package prior to its being shipped. Local deputies were ready and arrested the couple when the package arrived.
An Effingham County mother didn’t win any awards in November when she was arrested after her 3-year-old child wandered away from home twice in one week. The child first went missing on Nov. 12 and was the subject of a large search by law enforcement. Found in a wooded area near their Bluff Drive home, the child again wandered away three days later and was found in the road by a bystander. Deputies gave custody of the child to the Department of Family and Children Services. The mother was apparently not aware her son was missing and after about two hours, and with no missing child report called in, deputies went to the child’s home and informed his mother they had her son. She was charged with cruelty to children in the second degree.