A University of Georgia professor’s boyfriend was charged in the professor’s death after he was interviewed, police said.
Professor Marianne Shockley, 42, and her boyfriend, Marcus Lillard, 41, were at a house in Milledgeville owned by Clark Heindel, 69, late May 11, Baldwin County Sheriff Bill Massee told reporters on May 13, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The two men called 911 early Sunday to report Shockley’s death, claiming she had drowned in a hot tub. When deputies arrived, they sensed something amiss.
“They determined that the scene looked a little inappropriate as far as just a pure drowning incident due to some blood at the scene and the demeanor of the people at the scene,” Massee said.
According to an incident report obtained by WMAZ, Shockley and the two men were naked when deputies arrived. Shockley was bleeding profusely.
Lillard, who said that Shockley was his girlfriend, told deputies that he was in the woods getting firewood before returning to find Shockley “passed out” in the hot tub. He picked her up. While carrying her across the pool deck, he slipped and fell, he said, which is when Shockley was injured.
Heindel, meanwhile, said he was swimming in the pool at the end furthest away from the hot tub. He said he didn’t notice anything wrong with Shockley until Lillard did.
The men said that they waited nearly an hour to call 911 because Shockley was breathing faintly.
When detectives searched the area, they found blood on some spots of grass and a women’s bracelet nearby. When they went to talk to Heindel, they noticed he was gone. When they went inside, they heard a loud noise and soon found him dead. He had shot himself.
“We view this as a terrible incident,” Massee said, according to the Journal-Constitution. “We’re very sorry for his family.”
An autopsy on Shockley revealed that she died from being strangled. Lillard was arrested on charges of murder, concealing a death, and aggravated assault.
“It’s one of the strangest cases that we’ve ever worked … it was just sort of a bizarre type of case,” Massee said.
Woke up this morning to discover my friends & entomological twitter community in the States are hurting very badly at the sudden & tragic loss of @DrBugAppetit Marianne Shockley. My heart goes out to them all.
— Sally-Ann Spence (@minibeastmayhem) May 14, 2019
“The concealing charge of the death occurs from Mr. Lillard making calls two hours prior to the 911 call requesting people to help him, tell him how to get somebody back to life, how to help someone do CPR, basically how to help save a life,” Massee added, reported WXIA.
Karen Howard, who lives nearby, said she found what happened hard to believe.
“Just to be sitting around having a good time, one minute you’re here and the next minute you’re gone. That’s just unbelievable,” Howard told the broadcaster.
Shockley was a member of the university’s Department of Entomology, according to her profile. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in biology from Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, Georgia, in 1997, and obtained her M.S. (2001) and Ph.D. (2009) degrees from the department.
Heindel was a former clinical psychologist and owned Good Karma: Center for Yoga and the Healing Arts in Milledgeville, according to The Union-Recorder.
Words cannot adequately express the overwhelming sadness in hearing of @DrBugAppetit‘s passing. The @universityofga has truly lost one of our best. Her passion as a teacher, mentor, and researcher has inspired so many current and future scientists.
— Jonathan B. Hardy (@jonathanbhardy) May 14, 2019
Tributes to Shockley
Shockley was mourned by many colleagues and friends.
“Words cannot adequately express the overwhelming sadness in hearing of @DrBugAppetit’s passing. The @universityofga has truly lost one of our best. Her passion as a teacher, mentor, and researcher has inspired so many current and future scientists,” said one, Jonathan Hardy.
“Dr. Marianne Shockley was one of the best science communicators on the @universityofga Campus. Countless children attended Uga Bug Camp and Insectival at @BotGardenGA. My deepest condolences to her kids, friends, colleagues,” added Dr. Janet Frick.
“Still in shock and very teary about the news about Marianne. I’m at NCSU now, but tonight, I’m going to put on my UGA Insect Zoo shirt and sign up for some outreach. There’s no better way to honor Dr. Shockley than to spread our love of insects,” added Laura Kraft.
