Five people were arrested Friday and accused in connection with the murder of a man in St. Marys, according to police.
The St. Marys Police Department said its investigation started when a man believed to have been murdered was found Thursday in the water off GA Highway 40 in a park area commonly referred to as “Gilligan’s Island.”
John Andrew Mamph, 29, was identified as the victim.
In a joint investigation with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, suspects and witnesses were identified and multiple interviews were conducted on Thursday and Friday morning.
Following the interviews, police said they had enough evidence to confirm the circumstances leading to Mamph’s death.
Anthony Scott Mistretta, 27, Debra Leane Doughtery, 36, Frank Patrick Kennedy III, 55, Megan Leigh Robison, 33, who all live in St. Marys, and Bernice Rose McGuire, 25, of Kingsland, were eventually arrested and charged with murder, police said.
All of the suspects were booked into the Camden County Sheriff’s Office jail in Woodbine.
Ashley Clark, who spoke to News4JAX on Thursday, said she regularly comes to the area to check up on the homeless people who have set up camps. She discovered the body and called emergency officials.
Clark said the homeless people told her the body was “hogtied, beaten to a pulp and thrown in the water to drown.”
Authorities have not released any information about the condition of the body or confirmed how the man died.
One homeless man said he told police that he knew who the alleged killer was because the victim and the alleged suspect had an “ongoing beef” with each other over a tent.