John Wesley Thomas, a 63-year-old man from Sparta, was found dead in woods off Guill Cemetery Road in Hancock County on May 23, 2025. Law enforcement determined he was a victim of gun violence, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was asked to assist. The GBI Medical Examiner was scheduled to perform an autopsy to determine the formal cause and manner of death.

Authorities have not released further details about how Thomas came to be in the woods, and no suspects or arrests have been announced. Investigators from the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office and the GBI’s regional office in Milledgeville have asked the public to share any information, however small, that might help the ongoing inquiry.

Did anyone in the Sparta or Hancock County area see or hear anything out of the ordinary around Guill Cemetery Road in late May 2025?