Bulloch County Sheriff’s investigators charged a Guyton woman and her mother with murder Wednesday, taking the mother into custody and then launching a hunt that ended Thursday for the daughter, both accused of shooting a 26-year-old Sylvania man.

 

Kendra McDaniel, 21, of Keith Road in Guyton, was arrested Thursday afternoon on Go-Kart Road in Effingham County, said Bulloch County Sheriff Lynn Anderson. She and her mother, Katherine Lynn Hodges, 37, of Bulloch County, are suspected in the Sept. 4 shooting death of Sylvania’s Jonathan Sheffield, 26, he said.

 

Hodges was arrested Wednesday.

 

Bulloch County Sheriff’s deputies responded to Hodges’ Macedonia Road home in Clito on Saturday around 12:30 p.m. and found Sheffield lying in the yard, suffering from a gunshot wound.

 

The shooting was first reported as an accident, Anderson said.

 

Bulloch County EMS rushed Sheffield to East Georgia Regional Medical Center, and he was airlifted to Memorial Health University Center in Savannah, Anderson said. Sheffield died of his wounds a short time after arrival.

 

Anderson said an autopsy performed at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Coastal Regional Crime Lab in Savannah showed that Sheffield’s death was a homicide, contradicting the original story that the shooting was accidental.

 

Investigator Bill Black and other Bulloch County Sheriff’s investigators and deputies conducted follow-up investigations, including interviews and serving a search warrant, and secured “probable cause to issue arrest warrants,” Anderson said.

 

Hodges was charged with murder, aggravated assault, giving a false statement and obstruction.

 

McDaniel was not immediately located Wednesday after warrants were obtained, and law enforcement suspected she was in Effingham County, Anderson said. 

 

Around 1 p.m. Thursday, Effingham County Sheriff’s deputies located McDaniel and took her into custody, according to Anderson. She is charged with murder, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm by a first offender, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, terroristic threats, and giving a false statement.

 

Anderson said he would like to thank the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office and sheriff for their assistance in the case.

 

Both Hodges and McDaniel are being held without bond in the Bulloch County Jail.

 

Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Black at (912) 764-8888.