A Carroll County man serving a 30-year sentence without the possibility of parole for stabbing another man to death is now a fugitive after he failed to return to his correctional facility from a work program, officials said.
Melvin Barkley, 36, of Carrollton, was housed in the Atlanta Transitional Center, where inmates are employed in jobs outside the state prison system, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Corrections said. He failed to return to the transitional center after work Friday, prompting the GDC’s fugitive unit to begin searching for him.
Carrollton man gets 30 years without parole for killing family acquaintance
Barkley pleaded guilty last year to multiple counts related to the fatal stabbing of 23-year-old Tyler Waters, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. Barkley’s 30-year sentence was part of a negotiated plea deal, according to Coweta Judicial Circuit District Attorney Herb Cranford.
Cranford said his office agreed to the plea deal due to uncertainty that a jury would convict Barkley.