Road crew found dad of six dead in 2022, Alabama officials say. Man now convicted
A man has been convicted of murder in the death of a Georgia father, whose body was discovered in the back of a truck by a road crew in 2022, a district attorney said.
Eric Kyle Hooper was found guilty of murder Thursday, Jan. 23, by a Cherokee County jury following a weeklong trial, the district attorney’s office said in a Jan. 24 news release.
Authorities said a road crew found the body wrapped in tarp in a black truck toolbox March 15, 2022, during routine maintenance in Polk County, Georgia.
The body had two shotgun wounds and was later identified by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation as LaChancey Williams, according to the release.
Investigators found a fingerprint on the duct tape used to wrap Williams’ body that matched Hooper and, along with other eyewitness statements, led to his arrest, authorities said.
Hooper is set to be sentenced in February and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, which the state will pursue, according to the release.
Loved ones described Williams — a self-employed painter and father of six — as generous, outgoing and free spirited, according to his obituary.
“(LaChancey) was a really close friend of mine. When I was contacted and told about his passing, my heart shattered into a million pieces,” one person said. “He would do his best to help whoever reached out to him without hesitation.”
