SPALDING COUNTY, Ga. (TCN) — A woman recently pleaded guilty to fatally shooting her boyfriend while he was at another woman’s house amid an ongoing dispute.
The District Attorney’s Office for the Griffin Judicial Circuit announced Dec. 3 that a judge sentenced Sydney Maughon to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years for malice murder.
According to an initial press release from the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office, on July 3, 2023, deputies responded to a report of a man down on Dobbins Mill Road, where they found Jonathan Gilbert dead from apparent gunshot wounds. He had no identification on him at the time, but investigators were able to positively identify him via fingerprint scan.
Spalding County Sheriff Darrell Dix said an “ongoing lover’s quarrel” led to the fatal incident. According to prosecutors and the sheriff’s office, then-18-year-old Maughon, 18-year-old Jeremy Munson, and 19-year-old McKenzie Davenport went to a woman’s home who Maughon “had been threatening to fight over Instagram.” Maughon “became enraged” because her boyfriend, Gilbert, was at the woman’s house at the time, and she and Davenport threw eggs and rocks at him, prosecutors said. The victim reportedly noticed and went outside unarmed to confront them.
In a video recording, the district attorney’s office said Gilbert is seen running toward the back of the home, and Maughon is heard telling another person to “shoot him, shoot him.”
Gilbert purportedly went up to the defendant’s car, and Maughon retrieved Munson’s firearm and shot her boyfriend twice. Following the shooting, Davenport allegedly ran from the vehicle to have someone call 911.
According to prosecutors, Maughon and Munson fled to Maughon’s parents’ home, where they live. They told Maughon’s father about the incident and gave him the gun. The father reportedly hid the weapon in the closet and urged them not to call authorities, but “to let the police find them.”
The district attorney’s office said Maughon and Munson then went to work at Pizza Hut, but Davenport helped police find the suspects by allowing them to use her phone’s tracking feature. Davenport had also reportedly left her shoes and cellphone in the vehicle when she went to call authorities.
Davenport entered a plea to two misdemeanor charges for her role in the shooting, while Munson’s case has not yet been finalized.
Senior Assistant District Attorney Audrey D. Holliday said, “This case is absolutely senseless and tragic. Ms. Maughon coldly, callously, and maliciously shot and killed a young man that had nothing to do with the drama she wanted to create with this other female. She and Mr. Munson then left him in the street to die and went to work.”
