• Publication: Athens Daily News
• Author: Joan Stroer and Wayne Ford, Staff Writers
• Original Publication Date: Wednesday, October 21, 1992

DNA evidence eliminated another suspect in the slaying of University of Georgia student Jennifer Stone this week, but investigators gathered new DNA evidence Tuesday from a man implicated by a former suspect.

A man formerly charged with receiving Stone’s stolen cameras hours after her death tentatively identified a former Varsity employee as the man who gave him the cameras.

“He gave us a description and he gave us a first name,” police Maj. Gerald Guntharp said. “Once the suggestion of involvement is made, you have to check it out.”

A detective was in Houston Tuesday to gather physical evidence from the new suspect, who left Athens sometime after the slaying investigation began in April to stay with relatives, police said.

Meanwhile, DNA evidence eliminated a 19-year-old man in the slaying Monday. Detectives picked the teen up in Louisiana last week after his name was mentioned several times during their investigation.

He is now serving a 30-day sentence in the Clarke County Jail for underage possession of alcohol. His bond was set at $25,000 due to an additional felony bail-jumping charge.

Clarke County district attorney officials dropped a theft-by-retaining charge against Ernest Brown Jr., 29, in the case Friday, although Brown once confessed on tape that he knew the cameras were stolen, police said. The theft charge against Donald R. Wilson, 32, was also dropped.

Assistant District Attorney Dick Rick Dickson cited a lack of evidence against the two. The charges against the men were weak and no connection existed between the disposal of the stolen cameras and the slaying of Ms. Stone on April 23, Dickson said.

A third suspect, Larry Darnell Brown, 34, was also charged in the case but has yet to be tried.