WTOC, Savannah, Georgia, news, weather and sports | Murder Suspect Arraigned

Murder Suspect Arraigned

A Savannah youth pastor was in court this morning, charged with murdering his wife and burying her body. Judge Tammy Stokes arraigned 35-year-old Eric Golden via video this afternoon. Police say Golden killed his wife Dee Dee Thursday night. Yesterday, police say his guilt got the better of him and he turned himself in and led them to her body.

Golden is being held in the Chatham County jail without bond. His next court date is December 8.

Police say this is an unusual case, with a lot of twists and turns, and one they never saw coming. His confession came three days after he took extreme measures to conceal his wife's death.

Those who know him never saw it coming either. He is a youth pastor at the Southside Assembly of God on Tibet Avenue. He was a former military sergeant. His neighbors thought of him as a family man.

"I never would have dreamed," said neighbor Gordon Clark. "That's the last thing I would've thought about. They were good Christian people."

Police say Golden murdered his wife in their home in Berwick Plantation. Golden told detectives they were arguing. Police say he killed her, then took her body out Highway 204 to Bryan County. He buried her in the woods on Fort Stewart, about seven miles west of I-95.

Police had to walk several yards into the woods before they found where Dee Dee was buried. When they found the spot, they dug her out of a grave in a very remote location. If Golden hadn't told police where she was, they may have never found her.

Dee Dee's grave was about three feet deep.

"We don't see cases like this every day," said Sgt. Mike Wilson with the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department.

Police spent hours in the woods collecting evidence and trying to make sense of the city's latest homicide that happened in an unsuspecting neighborhood.

We spoke with a woman who works with Eric Golden at the Southside Assembly of God. She looked shaken and said the  church will be making a statement about this tragedy, but they weren't ready to do that this afternoon.

Reported by: Michelle Paynter, mpaynter@wtoc.com