Jeffrey Gebhardt

On the morning of September 23rd, 2012, officials were dispatched to a patch of woods in northern Georgia to find a lost hunter. When his remains were found in a clearing, it became clear that Jeffrey Gebhardt had endured a violent and mysterious death. Years later, questions continue to linger...

September 23rd, 2012 was a rather-temperate Sunday in Georgia. It was the second day of Fall, and temperatures rested in the mid-60's for most of the day, providing a nice respite for those that had been enduring a particularly hot and humid summer.

In a small town in North Georgia, church-goers and morning employees began to stir for the day, but several officials with the Wilkes County Sheriff's Office were already awake. Hours beforehand, they had been joined by members of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and the Georgia State Patrol (GSP), in searching for a hunter - who had gone missing in the woods, and for hours had been making repeated calls to 911, claiming to be lost.

Earlier that morning, officials had unsuccessfully dispatched several search-and-rescue teams to find this man. It wasn't until a helicopter from the GSP set out with heat-seeking technology that the missing hunter was found... or, rather, his body was found.

This discovery that morning would set off a roughly year-long investigation, which led to the convening of a Grand Jury and - ultimately - a number of unanswered questions.

This is the story of Jeffrey Gebhardt.

Jeffrey Sean Gebhardt - who was later nicknamed "Pooh" by those that knew him - was born on October 27th, 1976 in Winter Haven, Florida.

Not much is known about Jeffrey's early life, as his family have tried to remain out of the spotlight in the years since. But by all accounts, Jeffrey became a pretty normal guy who lived in Georgia, and loved to do all kinds of outdoor activities: in addition to being an avid runner, who kept himself in great shape, he loved to hunt, fish, and camp. He didn't seem to partake in any drug or alcohol consumption, and never married or had any children.

By 2012, Jeffrey was 35 years old and living in Blairsville, Georgia: a small town near the South Carolina/Tennessee border. He was a regular church-goer, who attended the St. Francis Catholic Church in Blairsville. He was even a member of the Knights of Columbus: a fraternal order not too dissimilar from the Freemasons.

Jeffrey was working at the Chambers Slaughter House as a butcher, where he processed and packaged meat (primarily pork and beef). And that Fall, Jeffrey had begun taking classes at North Georgia College, which had been anticipating for some time.

Jeffrey Gebhardt seemed to be set in his ways, but those that knew him say that he had a lot in his life to look forward to. Things were panning out for him, and he was eagerly anticipating the start of hunting season later that Fall.

On September 20th, 2012 - a Thursday - Jeffrey set off on a three-day camping trip with a friend of his.

This camping trip was a bit unique, in that it was a hunting trip that was taking place roughly one month before hunting season officially started. Jeffrey and his friend were setting off for three days into the nearly 13,000 acres of the Clarks Hill Wildlife Management Area, and were just two of the roughly 260 participants. It was a special event that required registration and planning, and Jeffrey - along with his friend - would be camping in the Holliday Park area of the camp.

The two men arrived to the park that Thursday, and set up camp. They couldn't start hunting until the following day - September 21st - and just set out early that Friday morning.

The two were together for most of the day, walking through this heavily-forested region of northern Georgia, and looking for any game they could find. At some point, the two got separated, but were eventually able to find each other again later that evening. Jeffrey hitched a ride back to the campground parking lot with another hunter he encountered while out in the woods, and he was reunited with his friend that evening.

They prepared to go out again the following morning, which would be the 2nd day of a planned 3-day outing.

Saturday, September 22nd unfolded almost identically to the one before it: Jeffrey and his friend set out from their campground on another all-day hunting expedition, hiking and trekking through the woods with their equipment and hunting rifles.

But just like the first day of this trip, the two eventually got separated. And this time, they were not able to easily find one another.

Hours began to pass, and Jeffrey failed to return to the camp that he and his friend had set up. Jeffrey's friend - who has remained nameless in publications of this story - decided to eventually call police at around 10:12 that evening. During this conversation with police, Jeffrey Gebhardt was reported missing.

At the same time that Jeffrey's friend was reporting him missing, Jeffrey was in infrequent contact with the same police agency. He had called the emergency number for the local police more than once, telling them that he had been hunting in the Clarks Hill Wildlife Management Area, and was now lost. It seemed like he had pretty poor cell signal, because he seemed to be struggling to maintain a full conversation with the Wilkes County 911 center without his calls dropping.

However, officials had enough information about Jeffrey's location to send out a search-and-rescue team to find him. This team included officials with the Wilkes County Sheriff's Office, the Washington Fire Department, Rangers with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, along with other volunteers and rescue personnel. This team used every method at their disposal in an effort to track down Jeffrey, which included utilizing flashlights, spotlights, blue police lights, and sirens to try and attract his attention. They were even able to track down Jeffrey's approximate location in the woods using GPS signals from his cell phone.

Just a few hours after Jeffrey was reported missing to police, a helicopter was dispatched by the Georgia State Patrol to scope out the area in which Jeffrey's cell phone was pinging from. This helicopter was equipped with heat-seeking technology, which would aid in their quest in locating any human-shaped figures in the darkness.

Just after 2:00 that Sunday morning - on September 23rd, 2012 - Jeffrey Gebhardt was discovered in a marshy area that was typically underwater, near Thurmond and Clarks Hill Lakes. This large patch of muddy grass was only exposed because of low wake level, and - as Sheriff Mark Moore of the Wilkes County Sheriff's Office would later describe - it was a:

"... very remote area."

The heat signature of Jeffrey was spotted by the helicopter above, who directed ground crews to the location, where they could check on Jeffrey and discover his current location. They finally made it to the location at around 3:00 AM, and it quickly became evident that Jeffrey Gebhardt was no longer alive, having died an incredibly mysterious and violent death.

Investigators stated that there was no sign of anybody else at the crime scene - such as footprints - but Jeffrey had apparently been stabbed numerous times, and had wounds all over his chest and torso. It was clear that there was no sign of Jeffrey being resuscitated, and his remains were taken away later that morning for a forensic examination and an autopsy.

Investigators were hesitant to release many details about the crime scene or the state in which they had found Jeffrey, and Wilkes County Sheriff Mark Moore told the press that weekend:

"The investigation is continuing with evidence collected at the scene and with additional interviews."

The investigation into Jeffrey Gebhardt's death was headed by the Wilkes County Sheriff's Office, who were joined by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation very early on.

Jeffrey's autopsy was conducted on Monday, September 24th - the day after his remains were discovered in the woods near Washington, Georgia. The following day - September 25th - it was announced that Jeffrey's death was being investigated as a homicide. For quite some time afterwards, the police would refuse to release much of any information about the case, as the investigation began to linger beyond a few weeks.

In October of 2012, Wilkes County Sheriff Mark Moore told the press:

"The evidence at this time doesn't indicate that there [is] any Rambo-type murderer running in the woods. We interviewed quite a few people that were hunting in that specific area. There were two people together that were friends, and we believe we interviewed everyone that had talked to them. This young man that got murdered, he got lost the day before, also, and we interviewed people who saw him after he found his way out [of] the woods. We think we talked to everybody that was in that particular area, but if anyone hunting in the area at that time might have some information, we'd certainly like to talk to them."

One of the statements that Sheriff Moore made caused a few skeptics to raise eyebrows, as he seemed to insist in follow-up statements about there being no threat of a repeat offense being committed by the culprit of this act - as Jeffrey's death was classified as a homicide, after all. Some just found it hard to believe that - with the case being as open as it was - that he and other officials could make definitive statements like that.

Several more weeks would pass, in which no new information trickled out. Police kept insisting that there was not a killer on the loose, but without disclosing any more information about the case, that seemed to fall on deaf ears.

A couple of months later - in December of 2012 - Sheriff Mark Moore spoke again to the press about Jeffrey Gebhardt's still-unsolved death:

"We're close to coming to a conclusion in this case. But certainly if we had ever thought there was a murderer loose here we would have done things very differently. It is an unusual case, but we're moving closer and closer to having an answer. We're waiting for a little bit more from the crime lab, and although at this point there is no final determination, we hope it's going to be soon."

Several months after Sheriff Moore made that statement, there still seemed to be no resolution in this case. Months would continue to pass, and the case received no real publicity until the following August: close to a full calendar year after the death of Jeffrey Gebhardt.

That month - August of 2013 - it was announced that a Grand Jury had been convened in Wilkes County, whose sole intent was to look at the evidence police had spent months gathering, and decide the fate of this investigation.

This Grand Jury was gathered in Wilkes County, and was set to examine the evidence that had been collected so far in the suspicious death of Jeffrey Sean Gebhardt. It was revealed that this Grand Jury was established to determine whether to close the case for good, or continue pursuing an investigation.

Ahead of this Grand Jury, though, it was revealed that in November of 2012, a Georgia state crime lab had found that Jeffrey Gebhardt had committed suicide while out in the woods by himself - and the specific details of this alleged suicide caused many to doubt this finding.

The GBI crime lab had found that Jeffrey Gebhardt had been stabbed upwards of 17 times; primarily, in a cluster of wounds on his chest. Many of these stab wounds were superficial, but three had been damaging enough to pierce his heart, and another had "penetrated deeply into the abdomen."

When police had discovered Jeffrey's body out in the middle of the woods, they had discovered a knife alongside his body - which was believed to be his hunting knife. They had spent months examining this knife for any DNA or forensic details that point to a potential culprit; but, it seemed like Jeffrey had been the only person to touch that knife. They found no other indicators of someone else having handled the knife.

The crime scene itself had also been questionable, but police found no evidence that anyone else had been at the crime scene other than Jeffrey and - later on - the rescue teams that discovered his remains. This indicated that Jeffrey was by himself through the entire ordeal, and the only questionable footprints near the body belonged to him.

In November of 2012 - after months of investigation - Georgia State Medical Examiner Daniel Brown had ruled the case a suicide. He ruled that all of the stab wounds had been self-inflicted and that Jeffrey had committed suicide by stabbing himself approximately 17 times in the chest and torso.

The delay in releasing this information had apparently come from inconsistencies between the state's finding and the Wilkes County investigation, which seemed to delay test results for evidence. After all, unsolved violent crime often takes priority, and since Jeffrey's death was now being ruled a suicide, it delayed a lot of testing needed in regards to the knife found near his body.

On Monday, August 5th, the Grand Jury assembled to hear all of this information, and were tasked with deciding whether or not Jeffrey's death was a suicide - or if it deserved a continued investigation. They would only spend about two days deliberating, coming to a decision the very next day: August 6th.

After reviewing all of the evidence, the Wilkes County Grand Jury came to the conclusion that Jeffrey Sean Gebhardt's death was a suicide. The summary of the Jury's finding read:

"Based on the opinions of State Medical Examiner Daniel Brown, MD, that all wounds, including the fatal ones, on Mr. Gebhardt were self-inflicted, and based upon the results of the investigation led by the GBI which found no evidence of any criminal agency involved in the death of Mr. Gebhardt, the Grand Jury authorized the closure of this investigation. However, the Grand Jury understands that should any new information arise that might shed new light or insight on the present facts, this case can be re-opened."

After the ruling that his death was now considered a suicide in the eyes of law enforcement, those that knew and loved Jeffrey Gebhardt - who they all knew by his nickname, "Pooh" - were left questioning why. Not only 'why' he would take his own life, but 'why' he chose to do it out in the middle of the woods - hours away from home.

Sonya Stone, a woman that lived out in the quiet region that his body was found in, told reporters just days later:

"Why would you come all the way from where you live, to here, to commit suicide? The pieces of the puzzle don't add up."

As always, when it comes to stories like this, the idea of mental illness looms large; with the obvious belief being that Jeffrey Gebhardt - a man that had likely been battling depression for some time - took his own life while on a camping trip with his friend. But some question whether this unknown, untreated mental illness would have manifested itself so suddenly and so violently, with him choosing to stab himself at least 17 times (including 3 times in the heart).

This was a prolonged death that seemed to have taken hours, due to Jeffrey being lost for quite a while, and making repeated attempts to contact 911. It's also worth noting that he was an experienced butcher, and would have known that cutting himself in such a way would result in nothing but a painful, protracted death.

Skeptics also point out that police found two separate hunting rifles next to Jeffrey's body, which I think we can all agree, would have been a preferable method of suicide than stabbing oneself more than a dozen times.

But - again - we end up coming back to the question of mental illness. Since Jeffrey's death was ruled a suicide, we can only surmise that he wasn't in the right state-of-mind, and likely wasn't thinking about the most painless way to kill himself... if that's indeed what happened. And that's really the crummy thing when it comes to mental illness: sometimes it strikes with no warning, no cause, and no trigger. It's just something that people have to live with, and it can manifest itself in all kinds of ways.

Jeffrey's story is a reminder that sometimes the people we know to be happy or cheery or positive may be suffering, and all we can do is be our best selves, try to conquer similar demons, and help out anyone we know that might need it.

In the years since the Wilkes County Grand Jury came to its conclusion - labeling this case a suicide - nothing has changed regarding Jeffrey's story. It's possible that his final hours will remain a perplexing mystery with no easy answer, and the findings from the Georgia State Medical Examiner will be the definitive word on his case. But as of this episode's recording, the story of Jeffrey Sean Gebhardt remains unresolved.

Episode Information

Episode Information

Written, hosted, and produced by Micheal Whelan

Originally published on Patreon on May 20th, 2019

Published on November 10th, 2019

Music Credits

All original music created by Micheal Whelan through Amper Music

Theme music created and composed by Ailsa Traves

Sources and further reading

Find A Grave - Jeffrey Sean “Pooh” Gebhardt

Augusta Chronicle - “Hunter’s death considered suspicious”

WDRW - “UPDATE: Hunter’s death in Wilkes Co. rules as homicide”

The News Reporter - “Hunter’s death ruled murder”

The News Reporter - “Hunter found dead near Clarks Hill Lake; GBI’s autopsy shows man was murdered”

The News Reporter - “Investigation continues on murder of Blairsville hunter killed in Wilkes”

GON - “WMA Hunter Murdered”

The News Reporter - “Authorities believe conclusion is coming in Holliday Park hunter murder mystery”

GON - “No Arrests, No Details In Two Hunting Murders”

The News Reporter - “Wilkes Grand Jury to Hear Holliday Park death case”

The News Reporter - “Hunter death ruled suicide by Grand Jury”

The News Reporter - “‘Murdered’ hunter stabbed himself to death, Wilkes Grand Jury says”

Augusta Chronicle - “Hunter’s death remains somewhat of a mystery”

Henry Herald - “Through fresh eyes: Residents have opportunity to delve into a cold case looking for clues”

FOX 54 - “Grand jury decides in hunter’s death”

Reddit (discussion thread) - “Mysterious Death of Jeff Gebhardt”