The Red and Black

Issue date: 5/11/09 Section: News

Media Credit: DANIELLE MOORE Athens-Clarke County Police Chief Jack Lumpkin addressed the media Saturday. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: DANIELLE MOORE Steve Barden (in the orange shirt on left) and Paula Chambers (in orange shirt on right) of the Alpha Search team stand with cadaver dogs Circe and Madison at the media conference Saturday. [Click to enlarge]

The final details in the suicide of University professor George Zinkhan will be answered by authorities Tuesday morning, as law enforcement officials gather evidence following the discovery of Zinkhan's body in a shallow grave Saturday morning.

"The Athens-Clarke County Police Department has not reviewed a copy of the GBI autopsy report. Therefore, it would be inappropriate for ACCPD to comment on specific questions until the results of George Zinkhan's autopsy report are assimilated into the overall investigation," Officer Kyle Blagg of the ACC Information Management Division wrote in a statement. "Once again we have not received a copy of the autopsy report. Please refrain from calling and asking for specific information regarding the body of George Zinkhan."

The media conference is set for 9 a.m. Tuesday.

During Saturday's news conference, officials said Zinkhan's body was found aside two handguns a mile from where his 2005 Jeep Liberty was discovered May 1 and two miles from his home in Bogart.

ACC Police Chief Jack Lumpkin did not think the body was in the woods since April 25, but wouldn't say if a suicide note was left at the scene. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is running ballistic tests on the two guns found with the body.

Zinkhan's body was clothed much the same way when he was last seen two Saturdays ago, the day Zinkhan walked into a gathering of Town & Gown members at the Athens Community Theatre and fatally shot his wife Marie Bruce, Ben Teague and Tom Tanner.

Madison, an Australian shepherd, and Circe, a German shepherd, members of the Alpha Search team unearthed Zinkhan's decomposing body.

"A person not accustomed to the woods would not have found it," Lumpkin said during a news conference Saturday. "The body was beneath the earth. The body was purposely concealed in a manner not to be discovered."

"There's no indication that anyone is involved with the death of this body," added Jim Fullington, a GBI special agent in charge.

The Athens-Banner Herald reported Monday the University will begin the search for Zinkhan's replacement this summer. Until one is found, professors will take over his courses.

"Our marketing department is committed to offering all the courses needed by our students. In the short term, we will revise the assignments within the department to cover the courses that George Zinkhan would have been assigned to teach," Terry College of Business Dean Robert Sumichrast said in a written statement to the Banner-Herald.

University President Michael Adams thanked law enforcement officials for their work Saturday.

"We are grateful for the professional work of the local, state and federal law enforcement agencies that have cooperated to bring this intensive investigation to this point," Adams wrote. "I am especially appreciative of the UGA police for the measures they took to ensure that the campus community remained safe and secure as we have continued university business during this very trying time.

"Again, I express my sincerest condolences to the loved ones and friends of the victims of this tragedy," Adams continued. "Our hearts go out to each of them as they try to bring closure to and cope with the pain and sorrow these losses of life have caused them. May they ultimately find healing and peace."

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