Georgia governor, Milton mayor threatened: Call leads to inmate’s arrest, police say

MILTON, Ga. - A man has been charged after police say he threatened a local mayor and the governor. Police say those threats came from an inmate in a Georgia prison. 

"Threats against my life and my family's life on a personal level," said Milton Mayor Peyton Jamison. 

Milton Mayor Peyton Jamison says he has no idea why someone would target him. In December, someone called the Milton 911 Center and made threats against the mayor and his family, as well as Gov. Brian Kemp.

An investigation was immediately launched. 

"Through a lot of hard detective work, diving into the dark web, a lot of subpoenas, a lot of phone search warrants, we traced it back to a state prison, and ultimately an inmate housed at the state prison," said Milton Police Chief Jason Griffin.

The inmate's name is Eric Elam. He is currently serving a life sentence in a Georgia State Prison in Macon. Police say they found the phone used to make the threatening phone call in his cell.

Elam now has additional charges of terroristic threats and acts. 

Police have not been able to find any connection between Elam and the mayor or even the city of Milton. This leads investigators to believe others were involved.

"We believe Mr. Elam did not have any personal reason to do this on his own. We believe there's an outside group or individual that aided him, and we're looking to identify those individuals involved," said Chief Griffin.

"It will be interesting to see where the evidence leads to other individuals that might be responsible," said Mayor Jamison.

Investigators are also trying to determine if the threat made in December is connected to another threat made to the mayor in September.

As the investigation continues, the mayor says he's grateful for the work by the investigators that led them to Elam and the charges against him. 

"My three children are definitely excited they caught the individual," said Mayor Jamison.