A grand jury this week indicted a 24-year-old Georgia man on multiple charged related to the death of a 66-year-old retired firefighter at a Wilmington Island restaurant in 2019.
Charles Alexander Jacobson Teeple IV, who was 19 at the time, is charged with two counts of felony murder, aggravated assault, and exploitation and intimidation of an elder person, WJCL reported.
Police were called to Basil’s Pizza and Deli on December 31, 2019 for a reported assault at the restaurant. Once there, Bruce Helmly, a former Savannah firefighter, told them he was punched in the head by a man later identified as Teeple. Witnesses told police the attack on Helmly was unexpected and unprovoked, according to WTOC.
Helmly refused medical treatment that night but was taken to the hospital hours later when he lost consciousness. He died a week later.
Teeple was arrested on January 2, 2019, and charged with battery, but further investigation after Helmly’s death resulted in murder charges in April, WJCL said.
In 2023, Teeple’s attorney entered a not guilty plea on his behalf and requested a jury trial, WSAV reported. It’s not clear why that plea came four years after Helmly’s death, nor why a grand jury only heard the case this year.
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[Featured image: Charles Alexander Jacobson Teeple IV/Chatham County Police Department]