Conyers man hit repeatedly over head with hammer dies
CONYERS, Ga. - Rockdale County sheriff's deputies have charged a man with murder for repeatedly hitting another man over the head with a hammer Sunday.
The victim, 58-year-old Jimmy Vance, died Friday afternoon, after a series of complications from his original injuries.
The man's son said his father's final moments were spent doing what he loves.
Joseph Vance described his father as a caring handyman who thought he was helping someone in need when that person violently beat him.
A boarded-up building on Broad Street in Conyers is likely the last home Jimmy Vance worked to repair.
"He was the kind of person that was always doing something," Vance said of his father.
He said he last spoke to his father about how they'd work together on his car.
Vance's son said a man asked his father for help while he was making repairs near the intersection of Broad and River streets.
According to a report from the Rockdale County Sheriff's Office, a man beat Vance over the head with a hammer repeatedly Sunday.
Witnesses told deputies the beating happened "for no reason at all." His son said his father did not know the suspect.
Vance was sent to Grady Memorial Hospital where his son said he later had a stroke from the hammer injuries. He was pronounced dead Friday afternoon.
"To know that it was unexpected," his son said. "It'd be different if he was sick or something," he said.
Vance's wife who was too upset to speak on camera, says she met her husband, an Arkansas native when she was just 9 years old.
Their son said just weeks ago, he lost a child to a miscarriage and can't make sense of his father's death so soon after.
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The Rockdale County Sheriff's Office said the suspect ran away not long after the attack, but authorities later found him after someone called them about a suspicious person in the area. Deputies said Roy Blane Dees faces several charges in this case, including murder.
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