| Former deputy indicted for murder
Victims’ families ‘devastated’
by Andy Phelan
andy@dekalbchamp.com
Yancey |
Guatemalan immigrant Marcial Cax-Puluc, 18, came to America to begin a new life and for the promise of a better future.
But on June 9 something went terribly wrong after former sheriff’s deputy Derrick Yancey, 49, hired him to work in his yard.
Cax-Puluc, who spoke little Spanish let alone English, was murdered in Yancey’s Stone Mountain home with a handgun – shot alongside Yancey’s wife, Linda Yancey, 44, who was a detention officer at the DeKalb County Jail.
He had been in America just a little more than a month from an extremely poor area in Guatemala where people spoke an indigenous language called Mam.
“He came here for hope,” said Guatemalan Consol General Beatrice Illescas.
On Aug. 14, a DeKalb County grand jury indicted Derrick Yancey for allegedly murdering his wife and Cax-Puluc with two handguns.
Yancey told authorities that Cax-Puluc broke into his home and shot his wife before he shot the teenager.
Assistant District Attorney Don Geary said Yancey, who surrendered to DeKalb authorities Thursday afternoon but was taken to the Rockdale County Jail, is charged with two counts each of murder and weapons charges.
Although Geary could not discuss details of the case pending a possible trial, he did indicate that the DeKalb County Police Department, Georgia Bureau of Investigations and U.S. Marshals helped investigate the case.
“We got here today because of the evaluation of the evidence,” said Geary.
Yancey, who resigned Aug. 11 from the sheriff’s department, had been on administrative leave since June 9.
Defense Attorney Keith Adams, who said his client is innocent and called the evidence “amazingly weak,” indicated he will seek bail.
“We’re obviously disappointed at the indictment,” said Adams. “I believe if the grand jury had been privy to all the evidence they would not have indicted Derrick. At the end, he will be found not guilty.”
Geary and Police Chief Terrell Bolton said they are confident the evidence will show that Yancey was the murderer.
“This case will lean heavily on forensics and ballistic evidence will prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Yancey is guilty,” said Bolton.
Linda Yancey’s brother Eugene Thomas said he hasn’t had a good night’s sleep since the murder.
“Our family is devastated,” said Thomas. “My family is still in mourning. We’re looking for justice, and I think we’ll get that.”
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