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Gwinnett Daily Post THURSDAY, MAY 5, 2016
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Vol. 46, No. 134
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I-85 toll lane expansion to begin in August struction barrels and cones are coming to Interstate 85 this summer. The GDOT leader told Georgia Department of the chamber that construcTransportation Commistion work on new high-ocsioner Russell McMurry cupancy toll lanes that exgave members of the Gwin- tend the existing toll lanes nett Chamber fair warning north to Hamilton Mill on Wednesday: Orange con- Road is expected to begin
BY CURT YEOMANS
curt.yeomans @gwinnettdailypost.com
in August. Ten miles of new toll lanes will be built over the next two years between Old Peachtree Road and Hamilton Mill Road as part of the project. “They are actually working through design now, getting the permits in place and ready to turn dirt in
August,” McMurry said. “That’s about a $149-$150 million investment in mobility and trying to bring mobility up the northeast side of the county, up the 85 corridor, which is such a lifeline.” The HOT lane expansion news was one of several
Gwinnett-related transportation projects McMurry discussed during his visit to the chamber. The head of GDOT also said the agency will be working on plans to install new interchanges and overpasses at existing intersections on Ga. Highway 316
Gwinnett County K-9 Bella, who is retiring from the Gwinnett County Police Department, has helped officers seize several tons of drugs and millions in cash since 2008. Bottom left, Sgt. Christian Adams poses with K-9 partner Bella. (Special Photos)
as officials move toward making it a limited access highway to the Athens area. The state will begin designing the interchanges later this year and will then conduct engineering and environmental work.
See GDOT, Page 7A
Convicted murderer admits guilt Testifies against co-defendent BY JOSHUA SHARPE joshua.sharpe@gwinnettdailypost.com
LOYAL, PATIENT, FEARLESS Bella has been a very important member of the Gwinnett County Police Department,” agency spokeswoman Cpl. Michele Gwinnett County police Pihera said Monday, ahead lauded a retiring narcotics-deof a meet-and-greet at police tection and missing-persons K-9 headquarters to show off the this week for a storied career. K-9. “Her working days have Before arthritis and an consisted of narcotic detection injury sidelined her, Bella, a and tracking missing people. Belgian Malinois, managed Her retirement days are much to rack up impressive seizure different.” stats: $3,488,519 in cash, 4,000 Bella will live out the remainpounds of pot, more than 67 kilo- der of her life with her partner, grams of cocaine, 1,048 pounds Sgt. Christian Adams, his wife of methamphetamine, dozens of and their two boys. guns, on and on. Now, the Slovakian-born dog “Since October 2008, K-9 chases squirrels in the backyard, BY JOSHUA SHARPE
joshua.sharpe @gwinnettdailypost.com
Gwinnett K-9 retires after seizing several tons of drugs, millions in cash
plays fetch and entertains her 2and 6-year-old “human brothers,” Pihera said. Bella was born in Slovakia in 2007 and came to the U.S. shortly thereafter. Adams got her from Southern Police Canine, a training facility in North Carolina. Adams trained her in tracking missing people and evidence recovery. The pair spent six years assigned to the Highway Interdiction Team and another two years in the Narcotics Unit. “Bella’s narcotic alerts have led to hundreds of arrests, and she has worked with numerous agencies.
...” Pihera said. Unlike the dogs in the K-9 Unit, Bella was not trained to apprehend suspects, though one notable exception came when she sniffed out a shoplifter who took a jacket from REI near the Mall of Georgia. Bella tracked the man through the woods at night and found him hiding in a stream. “She likely thought she was just looking for a missing person, and essentially she was,” Pihera said. With Bella retiring, the police department brought on Viking to follow in her footsteps.
LAWRENCEVILLE — For years, Cody Williams lied through his teeth. The 25-year-old claimed he was forced at gunpoint to help in the vicious murder of a drifting 20-year-old woman who died with an Ethernet cable taut around her throat, her body abandoned at a closed-down park on Lake Lanier. He tried time and again to downplay his involvement. Then, in March, he asked a jury to find him not guilty of murder — and he lost. On Wednesday, Williams, a former National Guardsman, acknowledged his lies during the trial of his co-defendant, Amy McGarity. Authorities allege she strangled Kayla Weil, with Williams’ help, in the bathtub of a drug house on Buford’s Cloud Street in July 2013, apparently over thefts McGarity claimed the victim had committed. Testifying benefits Williams. Nigel Lush, the lead prosecutor, said in court that Williams will get life in prison with the possibility of parole. In 30 years, when he applies for parole, the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office will tell the parole board he testified against McGarity and won’t protest his release. For now, he’s in chains. They clanked around his ankles as he approached the witness stand, where one-byone Lush had him admit his faults. “No one ever had a gun to your head, did they?” Lush asked. “No,” replied Williams, who appeared
See MURDERER, Page 7A
Cody Williams, convicted in March of the 2013 murder of a young woman in Buford, prepares to testify Wednesday in the trial of his co-defendant, Amy McGarity. (Staff Photo: Joshua Sharpe)
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