Road rage arrest uncovers suspect in Gainesville cold case murder

Road rage incident leads police to murder suspect

We’re hearing from Gainesville police about how a road rage incident this week led them to arrest a suspected killer. Investigators arrested and charged 21-year-Old Logan Plumley with felony murder among other charges. How this violent encounter helped them potentially solve an unrelated murder.

GAINESVILLE, Ga. - A road rage confrontation earlier this week led Gainesville police to arrest a 21-year-old man now charged with murder in a cold case involving the brutal stabbing of a wheelchair-bound man.

What we know:

Logan Plumley was arrested Monday and faces charges of felony murder, aggravated assault, and simple assault. Investigators say his violent behavior during a parking dispute helped link him to the unsolved killing of 64-year-old John Hill in November 2023.

Hill was found dead in his apartment at Walton Summit Apartments on Green Hunter Lane after police conducted a welfare check. He had been stabbed multiple times. For seven months, investigators had no suspects.

The break came Monday after two men reported being threatened at gunpoint by Plumley following a road rage dispute in a medical office parking lot near Northeast Georgia Medical Center. Holbrook said Plumley became angry that the men took too long to park.

The men went inside for a medical appointment and returned hours later to find Plumley still there — waiting with a gun, police said. The victims called for help from nearby firefighters, prompting Plumley to flee. They were able to give police a license plate number.

What they're saying:

"You have cases which are just downright gruesome. And this is one of those," said Gainesville Police Lt. Kevin Holbrook. "It means a lot to the family to be able to bring some closure to these types of cases."

"It appears that Mr. Plumley was upset about them taking too long in a parking spot in the roadway or something of that nature," Holbrook said.

Investigators traced the car to Walton Summit Apartments and discovered Plumley lived just a few doors down from where Hill had lived.

"They began immediately to put kind of two and two together that we still have an open death investigation from exactly the same hallway in this apartment complex," Holbrook said.

What we don't know:

While police have not yet determined a motive, Holbrook described Plumley's behavior as "a fit of rage."

"He would sit there and wait for these individuals to come back hours later, pull a firearm on them. And it just led us to realize what type of a violent person that Plumley really is," Holbrook said.

What's next:

Plumley remains in the Hall County Jail as the investigation continues.