WAYNESBORO – Two people arrested this year on murder charges in the 2016 disappearance of Simon Powell were denied bond Friday, Sept. 9.
Mitchell L. Lambert, 39, and Stacey L. Welch, 38, have been charged with murder, armed robbery and kidnapping.
Powell, 63, was last seen alive driving his white Ford pickup truck on June 1, 2016.
Powell’s truck was found burned on a dirt road off Georgia Highway 56 North the day after he disappeared, Assistant District Attorney Rex Myers said Friday during the Burke County Superior Court bond hearings.
The missing person case went cold until this year when two investigators went back over the evidence already collected and then went back and interviewed witnesses again, Myers said.
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One of those witnesses who used to work for Powell told the investigators that he had been with a prostitute who told him that her boyfriend had killed Powell. That woman was Welch, Myers said.
Welch told the investigators initially that her boyfriend, Lambert, told her that he and two Hispanic males killed Powell at a place called the “Sugar Shack,” which Myers said seems to be a place where card games are held.
She later took the investigators to a pond where she said Powell was killed, Myers said. She then admitted she was there when Powell was abducted with a shotgun and machete. Welch said it seemed to her that Powell owed the men money, Myers said.
An extensive search of the pond, including draining it, resulted in the recovery of what is believed to be human remains. Myers stressed the investigation is still in the preliminary stages.
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Lambert would only speak to Sheriff Alfonzo Williams after he was arrested in Cumming, Ga., by U.S. Marshals and returned to Burke County, Myers said. Lambert denied any involvement in Powell’s death. He said he only knew Welch by having had a two-day encounter with her, Myers said. He said he did know Powell and had once tried to get a job on his logging crew.
According to one person who called the sheriff’s department, Lambert contacted this person seeking to fabricate an alibi, Myers said.
Defense attorney Dan Franck said Lambert had been working building houses and has been in a steady relationship for two years. A lot is still unknown about what happened, Franck said, and Lambert maintains his innocence, Franck said.
Defense attorney Greg Gelpi stressed that Welch may be considered a witness more than a participant, and it was because of her the investigation has gotten this far. She only has one pending drug case and no history of violence, Gelpi said.
Sandy Hodson is a staff reporter covering courts for The Augusta Press. Reach her at sandy@theaugustapress.com.Â
