Blakely - Denetrius Levar Baker of Baker County pleaded guilty to murder last week in the August 7, 2007, shooting death of Jeremy Lofton.

Baker also pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in connection to the shooting of Terrance Benton of Blakely on the same date.

Superior Court Judge Ronnie Joe Lane sentenced Baker to life in prison for the Lofton murder and to 20 years in the aggravated assault of Benton.

Baker also pleaded guilty to three armed robbery assault of Benton.

Baker also pleaded guilty to three armed robbery cases. Judge Lane sentenced him to 40 additional years for the armed robberies.

Lofton died from a single gunshot to the head along Highway 216 near the Baker County line. Benton suffered six gunshot wounds, fleeing the murder scene on foot as Baker tried to kill him.

Blountstown - A former Altha resident was found dead early last Wednesday morning in the Jackson County Jail.

Lori Edenfield, 44, who had moved to Marianna, was found unresponsive by a fellow inmate who tried to wake her for breakfast. Efforts to resuscitate her were unsuccessful.

The Marianna Police Department is investigating the death, and the cause was unknown at press time.

Edenfield was being held on burglary and grand theft charges accused of stealing over $16,000 worth of jewelry from two relatives.

Cairo - Playing outdoors was a favorite pastime for young Mac Crutchfield of Grady County, and that is what he was doing Saturday when he fell into rushing flood waters of an overflowing lake near his home in Dear Lake subdivision.

Despite the rain from Tropical Storm Fay, the 12-yearold and friends wanted to be outside. With Maggie and Charlie in tow, the boys were mesmerized by the swirling waters of the rain-swollen lake in their neighborhood, according to Grady County Sheriff Harry Young. Finally, the elder Crutchfields left and told the boys to follow them back to the house, Young says, but the boys weren't ready to leave just yet.

Suddenly Mac fell into the whirlpool-like waters and was swept into a pipe and through a dam.

His friends ran to the nearest home, that of 46-year-old Steve Dickerson. Dickerson jumped in with hopes of saving his young neighbor, but he, too, was unable to fight the strong current and was pulled through the dam. Charlie Crutchfield soon ran to the scene and tried to save both Dickerson and his son. Dickerson was finally pulled from the water, but Mac was still missing. Officers with the Grady County Sheriff's Office arrived and soon found Mac Crutchfield's body on the other side of the dam in a wooded area.

Dawson - Two persons died in a single car accident on Monday night near the intersection of State Route 41 and State Route 50, about nine miles west of Dawson near the Terrell-Randolph County line, the Georgia State Patrol reported this week.

Terrell County Coroner James C. "Bo" Hamby identified the victims as Stephen Michael Eschete, 51, of Houma, Louisiana, and Gary Martin Knotts, 47 of Eufaula, Alabama.

According to the patrol, Eschete was driving a 2004 Chevrolet Corvette west on State Route 50, and while negotiating a curve and passing a witness vehicle, lost control of the vehicle. The Corvette traveled off the north shoulder of the road and side-swiped a tree, continued and struck another two trees in the front of the vehicle, the patrol said. The vehicle rotated and came to rest facing east. The accident occurred shortly after 10:00 p.m.

Donalsonville - An automobile accident requiring a helicopter pickup has occurred again in less than a month. Emergency personnel were called out at 10:24 a.m. Wednesday morning to an accident just east of Iron City on Hwy. 84. According to bystanders, the woman driving the car, traveling in an easterly direction was passing a tractor trailer rig and pulled up into his blind spot. The truck veered to the left, the car was pulled under the truck, traveled a short distance before it was popped out and spun into the west bound lane, striking two other pickups - both pulling trailers. One truck was forced to the north side of the highway, the other to the inside median. There appeared to be no other injuries.

Members of the Georgia State Patrol, Seminole County Sheriff's Department, ambulance service, fire and rescue workers, and others responded in record time. All the people involved in his accident have not been identified by investigating officers.