Published: August 20, 2008 10:30 pm      

Shooting investigated as homicide

The area near 3030 Lamory Lane in the Bluff View Estates subdivision in Rocky Face where the body of local contractor Danny Witt was found late Tuesday night was quiet Wednesday at about 1 p.m.

Witt, 59, of 2716 Osprey Drive, Dalton, was found shot in the abdomen in his truck in the driveway of the gray framed house that is under construction shortly before 10 p.m. Deputies are investigating the shooting as a homicide, said Maj. John Gibson with the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office late Wednesday afternoon.

Witt’s body has been sent to the state crime lab for an autopsy. The semi-automatic gun used in the shooting has been recovered. Deputies have been interviewing family members, Gibson said.

“We are aware that he has been involved in ongoing disputes with some of his relatives,” he said.

A man who answered the phone at Witt’s residence said family members will not be making any comments about Witt’s death and hung up.

Witt was under investigation for fraud by the sheriff’s office at the time of his death, Gibson said. That case is now closed, he said.

Two neighbors of Witt’s said they saw him leaving in his truck speeding down the road around 6:30 p.m. They did not see him return.

The subdivision where Witt’s body was found is made up of new houses and some that are still under construction. The houses range in price from $180,000 to $200,000, said Mike Yarbrough, who was building a house on Wednesday next door to the house where the body was found.

Normally, the subdivision is very quiet, he said.

“We’ve had more traffic here today than we have had in three weeks,” he said.