A Hall County man has been charged with the murder and aggravated assault of a 41-year-old Murrayville woman whose body was found early Sunday in Lumpkin County.
John Harol Whitfield, 52, was being held in the Lumpkin County Jail Sunday afternoon.
Wanda Kay McDougald was found early Sunday by the Hall County Sheriff’s Office, along with the Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office and Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said Deputy Stephen Wilbanks, Hall Sheriff’s Office spokesman.
Her body was in woods along Ga. 60 north of Dahlonega, about 1 mile south of the Union County line.
Whitfield and McDougald “had been romantically involved, but the status between the two at the time of her death is not known,” Wilbanks said.
“They lived together for over a year,” GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles said.
Hall deputies found Whitfield at a Clermont home mid-afternoon Saturday. A family member reported him missing from his home Wednesday, Wilbanks said.
Other details weren’t immediately available, including how McDougald died or the circumstances around her death.
McDougald’s autopsy is pending, Miles said.
