On January 9, 2020, 75-year-old James Christopher Drake was shot once in the head while sitting in a recliner in his Hephzibah, Georgia, home on Wendell Street. A disabled Vietnam veteran who enjoyed restoring cars and woodworking, Drake was pronounced dead at the scene at 7:30 a.m. after an early morning domestic dispute that left the neighborhood shaken.

Investigators focused on his 71-year-old wife, Freda Eugenia Drake. Prosecutors say she told authorities she had become fed up with her husband’s behavior that she attributed to a prescription pill problem, and that she shot him with a handgun before going to bed. She was later charged with murder and possession of a firearm; bond was set at $50,000 on the murder count and $20,000 on the gun charge with conditions including no gun possession, a curfew, and residence with her grandson.

Anyone who knew the Drakes or has information about the events leading up to January 9, 2020, is asked to come forward.