Georgia Trailer Park Murder Suspect Worked Alone, Cops Say

Sept. 8, 2009— -- Guy Heinze Jr. singlehandedly bludgeoned seven members of his family and a family friend to death in their Georgia mobile home, police said today.

Heinze, 22, who is facing eight counts of murder in the killings at the New Hope Plantation Mobile Home Park near Brunswick, Ga., that were discovered Aug. 29, is the only person charged in the case.

"The investigation at this time does not indicate that there were others involved in this case and, therefore, no other suspects are being sought by the Glynn County Police Department at this time," police said in a statement released today.

"This investigation is still very much ongoing and according to Chief [Matt] Doering, all information seems to indicate that the suspect, Guy Heinze Jr., acted alone," the statement said.

Autopsies on the eight victims indicated they all died of blunt force trauma, and there was no evidence of gunshot wounds, police said.

Ron Harrison, Heinze's attorney, told ABC News Jacksonville, Fla., affiliate WJXX-TV that Heinze was "shocked" when he learned he was going to be charged, and that Heinze continues to deny that he had anything to do with the killings.

Relatives of Heinze and his alleged victims said they could not understand how a single man would have been able to beat eight people to death in one mobile home.

Clint Rowe, an uncle of four of the people Heinze allegedly killed, told The Associated Press that with several grown men among the victims, he didn't see how the killings could have been carried out by one person alone, unless the victims were drugged.

"They would've fought until the end," Rowe told the AP. "Wouldn't you think one person would've had a hard time killing eight people with a blunt object without someone giving them a fight?"

When Heinze was arrested Friday night, Doering said there were two pieces of evidence that tied the man to the killings. He did not say then what that evidence was, and police did not elaborate today, either.

Heinze was first arrested a day after he alerted police to the killings in a 911 call. He was charged then with drug possession, tampering with evidence and other related charges, but Friday night he was released and then rearrested and charged with the killings.

Family members expressed their support for Heinze at the funeral Saturday for seven of his alleged victims.

"I know my brother didn't do this. My brother has a conscience," Tyler Heinze, the accused man's 16-year-old brother, said outside the cemetery.

"I can say there was drug involvement in the house, and I think somebody ripped somebody off and somebody needed to get their money back," the teen said. "Maybe somebody in the house double-crossed someone. It could've been my brother who double-crossed somebody, and it could be part of his fault that somebody came in there and did this."

Heinze's grandfather, William Heinze, said the young man loved his father, who was among the victims.

"He loved his dad. I know in that 911 call that we heard on the news, he was devastated to find his dad dead like that," William Heinze said. "I just can't believe it, unless they really had some proof."

The dead include seven members of Guy Heinze Jr.'s extended family: Guy Heinze Sr., 45; his uncle, Rusty Toler Sr., 44; and his aunt Brenda Gail Falagan, 49. Also slain were Toler Sr.'s four children -- Chrissy Toler, 22; Russell D. Toler Jr., 20; Michael Toler, 19; and Michelle Toler, 15.

Chrissy Toler's boyfriend, Joseph L. West, 30, was also killed.