Middle Georgia Cold Cases: Gone Too Soon

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Bibb County sheriff’s investigators are looking for a murderer who shot and killed a father of two in 2011. It’s an all new Middle Georgia Cold Cases.

He had promise they said. He wasn’t a bad seed and wanted to make life better for him and his family.

“From everything that I’ve seen in this case, he seemed to be a young man that didn’t get into too much trouble,” Lt. Shermaine Jones said.

21-year-old Wendell “Dubb” Ford Jr. had two children and was a local rap artist. He was with his friend, Travis Terry, at Terry’s home on Forest Avenue West in the Bellevue neighborhood.

“They had been hanging out that day. They went out to eat, just catching up. Terry said he stepped outside for a few minutes to get some air and guys walked up on him,” Jones said while reflecting on the case of which he was in charge.

Who were the guys? A police report shows Terry claiming the two ambushed him and Wendell.

“As he’s on the ground, another guy rushes into the apartment,” Jones said. “He was shot, actually, and it was a robbery, I believe, gone bad.”

Terry panicked.

“Terry says when he gets up, he looks over and Wendell is laying on the ground. He didn’t no that Wendell had gotten shot at first until he turned around saw him laying on the ground,” Jones said.

Wendell was dead.

The suspects, who in the fast nature of the robbery couldn’t be identified or even described, ran away. Shell casings from a small caliber handgun were the only clues left behind.

Within minutes people in the surrounding area were at the scene.

“When police officers got there, of course, the neighborhood was flooded with people, however – I hate to say this in a way – it’s a common story, everybody was there and nobody saw nothing,” Jones frustratingly said.

He says Wendell actually had a performance at a nightclub later that evening.

“People know things. We know they know things. There’s several people that I’ve spoken with that’s kind of alluded to having information, but for whatever reason they’re afraid to come forward with the full facts of what happened,” Jones said.

A “don’t snitch” mentality Lt. Jones says needs to end.

“We had people come forward and said they heard the shots. When they heard the shots, of course, they naturally paused to make sure it wasn’t coming in their direction, and then they went over to figure out what was going on,” he said.

For years, the case has sat on Jones’ desk — him being unable to give up on solving the case.

“One tip, one person coming forward can change the entire dynamics of this case,” he said with promise.

Help so desperately needed to find a killer of young man whose life was cut short.

“It’s just a troubled story. They’ve got two small children that’s been raised without a father and somebody in the neighborhood knows what happened,” Jones said.

Crimestoppers is offering up to $10,000 in reward money for answers in the case.

If you have any information on the case, call the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office at (478) 751-7500.