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Cherokee County man charged with murder of his sister

Published  November 18, 2016 6:07pm EST
News
FOX 5 Atlanta

CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. - Police in Woodstock said they have taken into the “person of interest” in the death of a Cherokee County woman this week and have now charged him in the death of his sister.

Joseph Twilley, 54, has been charged in the murder of his own sister, 56-year-old Karen Twilley. The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office issued a lookout mid-week for Twilley after they found his sister dead at her home.

“We don’t know where he’s been these last 36 hours, but fortunately we have in custody now,” Lt. Jay Baker, Cherokee County Sheriff's Office.

Baker said he is in custody thanks to the community. Friday morning, a witness called 911 to report seeing Twilley. At that same time a Cherokee County detective, also spotted the car.

A BOLO went out over the radio and at 9:30 a.m. a Woodstock officer had the car pulled over and Twilley in Custody

“Detectives right now are conducting search warrants on the car, they're looking for evidence in the car,” said Lt. Baker.

Investigators said Twilley hasn’t said much since he was taken into custody and they are still trying to piece together a motive behind the killing.

Wednesday, detectives weren’t sure if Twilley was a suspect or just missing. The case wasn’t adding up. Twilley’s older sister was dead. Twilley was missing along with his mother’s car. Then key pieces started falling into place, like the fact a Carroll County deputy spotted the car leaving the state the same day of the murder.

“We wouldn’t have known he left the state without the tag reader that spotted that,” said Lt. Baker.

Why Twilley came back to Georgia is still not known, but Lt. Baker said Twilley did switch out the tag on the car, changing it from a Georgia Plate to a Tennessee plate.

“We don’t have a lot of homicides in Cherokee and when we do, we typically have the suspects in custody pretty quick, to go an entire day was concerning for us,” said Lt. Baker.

Twilley was booked in the Cherokee County Jail where he is expected to stay without bond.