13wmaz: In Eastman, a home on Eastman Dublin Highway becomes a crime scene
On Tuesday in Eastman, Dodge County deputies went to a home on the 3400 block of Eastman Dublin Highway and found a man shot inside. The case, now being investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, centers on the deaths of two Eastman men, identified as 48-year-old Jonathan Lee Groves and 60-year-old Rex Willis Giddens, in what investigators describe as an apparent homicide-suicide. 13wmaz is following the latest confirmed details as the investigation continues.
Johnathan Lee Groves and a house call that ended at the scene
Deputies responding to the home on Eastman Dublin Highway found Groves inside with a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has identified him as 48-year-old Johnathan Lee Groves.
In the first hours after a violent death, a case often begins with what is visible and verifiable: where deputies were called, what they saw when they entered, and what a preliminary investigation can establish. Here, the location is specific—the 3400 block of Eastman Dublin Highway in Eastman—and so is the outcome, with Groves pronounced dead at the home.
From that point, the focus widened beyond the house itself. Law enforcement later located another man connected to the shooting, turning the initial response into an investigation spanning both the residence and the nearby area.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation details an apparent homicide-suicide in Dodge County
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said a preliminary investigation revealed that 60-year-old Rex Willis Giddens, of Eastman, shot Groves. After deputies found Groves inside the home, law enforcement later found Giddens in the woods near the home, suffering from what was described as an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Giddens was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office asked the GBI to investigate the deaths. A news release issued Wednesday described the agency’s role in examining what happened Tuesday at the home on Eastman Dublin Highway.
Investigators have described the incident as an apparent homicide-suicide, a framing that outlines a suspected sequence while leaving key questions to be resolved by forensic work and a completed investigative file.
GBI Medical Examiner’s Office autopsies and the Oconee Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s review
The bodies of both men will be taken to the GBI Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsies, the GBI said. Those autopsies are among the steps that can confirm and document details about the deaths.
Even with the preliminary findings released so far, the GBI has said the investigation is ongoing. Once the investigation is complete, it will be turned over to the Oconee Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for review.
For people in Dodge County trying to make sense of what happened at a home on Eastman Dublin Highway, that procedural path is the clearest next milestone: autopsies at the GBI Medical Examiner’s Office, then a completed case file moving to the Oconee Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office.
The GBI is also asking anyone with information about the investigation to contact the GBI Regional Investigative Office in Eastman at 478-374-6988. Tips can also be submitted through the GBI tip line at 1-800-597-TIPS.
The address on the 3400 block of Eastman Dublin Highway remains the fixed point in this case—the place deputies entered and where Groves was found. As the GBI continues its work and prepares to forward the completed investigation to the Oconee Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office, the official next steps are set: autopsies, continued investigation, and review.
13wmaz will continue tracking the confirmed developments that come next in the GBI investigation into the deaths of Groves and Giddens in Eastman.
