On the evening of October 5, 2020, 15-year-old Ja’rique Johan Brown was found dead in the roadway on Creekwood Road in Douglas, Georgia, from an apparent gunshot wound. The Coffee County Sheriff’s Office called in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to assist in what was investigated as a homicide.

Investigators say two suspects were identified after the shooting. Authorities allege the incident occurred during a planned transaction in which Traylor and a 16-year-old juvenile had arranged to sell a handgun to Brown for $300. Savionte Torek Traylor, then 18, was arrested after an initial warrant and turned himself in. Investigators reported no weapon was found near Brown’s body; the prosecution highlighted Traylor’s differing accounts and efforts to hide his vehicle as undermining his claim of self-defense.

A Coffee County jury convicted Traylor in June 2024 of felony murder, furnishing a pistol to a minor, and tampering with evidence; he was acquitted of murder by aggravated assault and later sentenced to life with parole possible after 30 years. The case against the other person charged in Brown’s death is scheduled for trial at a later date.

Did anyone in Douglas recognize Ja’rique or have information about the transaction that led to his death?