Carnage and Karma

Juanita, 15, was killed by her husband on October 24, 1940

James M. Carney was born in 1921. Carney's father was from Ball Ground but moved to Texas to sell marble for the Georgia Marble Company.

James moved back to Georgia after his parents died and moved in with his uncle Tom. James met his future bride, Juanita, while living in Tate. She was a senior at Tate High School. They were married in May of 1940, a few months after she turned fifteen, and promptly moved into a rental house. Juanita got pregnant, and during a routine checkup with Dr. Robinson in Tate, he noticed bruises on her body that were inflicted by her husband. Dr. Robinson recommended that she move in with her mother until her child was born. She should have taken his advice.

On October 24, 1940, the Carney's got into an argument at Juanita's parents house in Marble Hill. They returned to their home in Tate. Their rental shared space with the Patterson family. The Pattersons later testified they saw the Carneys come home around 7 p.m. and then noticed the Carney's car was gone by 8 p.m. The Pattersons stated they heard nothing unusual overnight, other than a few sounds coming from the kitchen.

The Confession and Arrest

On the morning of October 25, 1940, James confessed murdering his wife to his uncle Tom where they worked together at Georgia Marble. James's uncle immediately surrendered him to the sheriff in Jasper.

Mr Patterson rushed to the rental home to see what happened. When he arrived he found the nude body of Juanita. One of her hands was cut off at the wrist, the other arm was severed in two at the elbow. Both of her feet were cut off at the ankles. A butcher knife and razor blade were found under the bed.  Only one of her feet was found.

The police and a doctor were called out to the Carney residence. Juanita was examined by Dr. G.G. Robinson of the Robinson hospital in Tate. Robinson determined that she had been dead for about six or seven hours and the lack of blood at murder scene was because her blood had congealed because of the length of time before her dismemberment. She died from asphyxiation. All the other wounds were postmortem.

James testified to Sheriff Poole that he didn't mean to kill his wife. He claimed they got into an argument and he choked her to death by accident. He slashed his wrists in a suicide attempt, but survived. He admitted the day before the murder he tried trading his car in for a larger, more roomier coupe - presumably to move the body. Premeditation. He later admitted he dismembered her in attempt to get her to fit into his smaller automobile. They found her missing foot in a sack in an outbuilding. James boiled it in an attempt to destroy evidence.

That Friday afternoon, Sheriff Pool transferred James to Fulton County's prison known as The Tower for safekeeping. In the early 20th Century, when crimes were so serious that local county jails became concerned about mob vengeance, criminals were transferred to the safer Fulton County facility. This also happened in the murder trial of Forsyth County's Mae Crow in 1912.

James Miles Carney, 19, seen with a bandaged wrist his cell at the Old Jail in Pickens County.

Later he was moved to Fulton's County Tower

The Trial

The trial of James Carney began in Jasper on April 10, 1941. He was found guilty but sentenced to life in prison by Judge J. Harold Hawkins. He spent a little over ten years in the Georgia State Prison in Tattnall County until he was pardoned in July of 1951. Why he was pardoned is beyond me. He premeditated and savagely murdered his pregnant wife, dismembered her corpse, and tried destroying the evidence.

Sadly, this type of pardon is typical in Georgia's history. The Contreras children who murdered their father and dumped his body in Pickens County in 1977 were both sent free. Both men who murdered Earl Holbert were also paroled and released in the 50s and 60s. Not one of the murderers served more than 20 years in prison.

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The Burial of the Bride

Unlike other cases where spouses were murdered by their husband, the Jones family kept their daughter's husband's name off the tombstone.

Cut down too soon. Juanita was buried at age 15 at Bethesda Baptist Church in Nelson.

Karma

A little over a year after being pardoned, Karma came calling for James. In August 1952, while working as a prison guard for Cherokee County, he was killed when a truck backed over him while working on the road leading to Holbrook Campground in Alpharetta. He was 31 years old.

Holbrook Campground in Alpharetta was established in 1838. James Carney was run over by a truck while working on the road that leads here in 1952.