Charles Cook (Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office) and Melinda Jolly (GoFundMe)
A 41-year-old man from Georgia has been arrested in Florida for allegedly killing his girlfriend, beating the 44-year-old widow and mother of four to death in her home last week. Charles Franklin Cook was taken into custody on Thursday and charged with one count of murder and one count of aggravated assault in the slaying of Melinda Jolly, authorities announced.
According to a news release from the Cobb County, Georgia, police department, a family member conducted a welfare check on Jolly last week and found her dead inside her home in Marietta.
Police responded to the scene, locating the body and immediately notifying detectives with the department’s Major Crimes Unit.
Jolly’s sister provided additional details about the circumstances of her death in a GoFundMe page started to raise money for her funeral.
According to the page, Jolly and her four children moved from California to Georgia a few years ago, shortly after she gave birth to her youngest children, two twin boys. She moved to be closer to her family and “start a new life” following the death of her husband, who died shortly after she gave birth to the twins.