Freddrick Durham is charged with murdering his girlfriend, Margret Dubignon (Thomaston Police Department)
A man in Georgia was arrested over the weekend for allegedly killing his girlfriend, stuffing her body in a suitcase and hiding it inside of their home before fleeing the scene in her car. Freddrick Durham was taken into custody on Saturday and charged with a spate of felonies, including felony murder, concealing a death, tampering with evidence, and theft by taking a motor vehicle in the slaying of Margret Dubignon, authorities announced.
According to a news release from the Thomaston Georgia Police Department, officers at about 7:30 a.m. on Oct. 21 responded to a call at a residence located in the 100 block of W. County Rd. in regards to a possible missing person. Upon arriving at the scene, first responders made contact with several family members of Margret Dubignon, who is also known as “Mellow Yellow.” The family members said they had not seen or spoken to Dubignon since Thursday.
A welfare check on Dubignon had been requested the previous night and was unsuccessful.
While making the missing person report, Dubignon’s family also told police that her live-in boyfriend, Freddrick Durham, and Dubignon’s vehicle were both nowhere to be found.
Officers placed Dubignon in the Georgia Crime Information Center (GCIC) as a missing person and began investigating the whereabouts of her vehicle. However, at about 9 a.m., they were dispatched back to her residence after receiving a grisly emergency call.
Dubignon’s family members had called police again, this time saying they had located what they believed to be her body inside of the residence. The body was found hidden “inside of a large suitcase in the closet of her apartment,” police said.
TPD officers, accompanied by deputies from the Upson County Sheriff’s Office, immediately went back to the apartment and secured the scene, where police said a “large crowd” had already gathered. Detectives with the TPD Criminal Investigations Division assumed control of the scene. The Upson County Coroner and Emergency Medical Services personnel confirmed that Dubignon was the dead woman in the suitcase.
Authorities did not release any details regarding how Durham allegedly killed Dubignon.
A short while later, police named Durham as a possible homicide suspect in Dubignon’s death and put out a BOLO (be on the lookout) for Dubignon’s vehicle. With the assistance of other local law enforcement agencies, police were able to track the car to an undisclosed area in Atlanta and Durham was taken into custody about two hours later with assistance from the Atlanta Police Department.
Durham was transported back to TPD headquarters for questioning and subsequently charged with the aforementioned crimes.
In the release, police specifically thanked Dubignon’s family for their assistance in identifying what happened to the victim and for their help in apprehending Durham.
“This was a horrific crime and an extremely painful event, yet the family, in spite of their emotions, were incredibly composed, supportive and cooperative throughout todays investigation,” the release states. “Our thoughts and prayers are with them.”
Durham is currently being held in the Upson County Jail without bond.
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