Justin Allen Pierce, 32, was shot and killed in the early morning hours of July 13, 2022. Deputies with the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office and medical personnel responded to a report of a shooting just after 2 a.m. at the Colonial Estates Mobile Home Park on Columbus‑Lancaster Road. Pierce was found outside a home with a single gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The investigation focused on a fellow resident of the mobile home park, 27‑year‑old Cody Blaine, after a dispute and an alleged physical confrontation between the two. Blaine was arrested and charged with aggravated murder and murder. At trial a jury in November 2023 acquitted him of both counts, finding he acted in self‑defense. Prosecutors said the state had not disproved self‑defense beyond a reasonable doubt.

Blaine was separately prosecuted for having a firearm while under disability because of a prior juvenile conviction. After serving 498 days in jail, he was sentenced in November 2023 to five years of community control to follow six months of mandatory substance abuse and mental health treatment. Did anyone in the Colonial Estates Mobile Home Park know Pierce’s movements or the nature of his dispute with the other resident?