Vernon Keenan | |
---|---|
Director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation | |
In office January, 2003 –January 1, 2019 | |
Governor | Sonny Perdue Nathan Deal |
Succeeded by | D. Victor Reynalds |
Personal details | |
Spouse(s) | Joan Thomas Keenan |
Children | 2 |
Vernon M. Keenan was the director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI),the primary investigation and law enforcement agency of the U.S. state of Georgia.
He was voted one of the top 100 most influential Georgians by Georgia Trend magazine. He is a firm supporter of the state's Open Records Act . Keenan joined the GBI in 1973 and was appointed director of the agency in January 2003 by Governor Sonny Perdue. Prior to joining the GBI,he served as a patrolman with the DeKalb County Police Department (November 1972 - June 1973).
After nearly 40 years as a GBI employee and 15 years as its director,Keenan retired from GBI on January 1,2019. [1]
He has been married for 30 years to Joan Thomas Keenan from St. Mary's,Georgia. They live in Cherokee County and have two sons,Mack and Jackson. Vernon Keenan is an Eagle Scout.[ citation needed ]
The Atlanta murders of 1979–1981,sometimes called the Atlanta child murders, was a series of murders committed in Atlanta,Georgia,between July 1979 and May 1981. Over the two-year period,at least 28 children,adolescents,and adults were killed.
William Doyle Ruckelshaus was an American attorney and government official.
Paul John Knowles,also known as The Casanova Killer,was an American serial killer tied to the deaths of 18 people in 1974,though he claimed to have taken 35 lives.
GBI may refer to:
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) is the state bureau of investigation of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is an independent,statewide agency that provides assistance to Georgia's criminal justice system in the areas of criminal investigations,forensic laboratory services,and computerized criminal justice information. Its headquarters is located in unincorporated DeKalb County,near Decatur and in Greater Atlanta.
The Georgia Department of Public Safety (GDPS) is a state body that is responsible for statewide law enforcement and public safety within the U.S. state of Georgia. The current Commissioner of the department is Chris C. Wright,who is also Colonel of the Georgia State Patrol.
Vernon Angus Jones is an American Republican politician and who served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1993 to 2001 and from 2017 to 2021.
Jackson County Comprehensive High School (JCCHS) is a high school in Jefferson,Georgia,United States. It is one of two high schools in the Jackson County School District. It is fed by West Jackson Middle School. The school competes in region 8-AAAAA. JCCHS is known for its academics,band,Army JROTC,FFA,softball,wrestling,tennis,basketball,and football programs.
Pulaski State Prison (PSP) is a Georgia Department of Corrections prison for women located in Hawkinsville,Georgia. It has thirteen buildings with forty eight double bunk rooms. The facility opened in 1994.
Meredith Hope Emerson was a 24-year-old woman who was murdered in January 2008 by drifter Gary Michael Hilton. She was last seen alive hiking with her dog on Blood Mountain in northern Georgia on New Year's Day 2008. Witnesses claimed to have seen her with an older man on the Spur Trail connecting the Appalachian Trail with the Byron Herbert Reece Parking Lot. When she did not return home on January 2,2008,her friends began to search for her,without success. Her dog,Ella,was found on January 4,2008,in Cumming,Georgia,approximately 60 miles (97 km) away.
Tara Faye Grinstead was an American high school history teacher from Ocilla,Georgia,who went missing on October 22,2005,and was declared dead in 2010.
Kyle Lamar Myers is an American podcaster and former YouTuber known under the stage name FPSRussia. His YouTube channel features Myers portraying the fictional role of Dimitri Potapoff,a heavily accented "professional Russian" from Moscow,Russia. His videos center around the usage of large amounts of firearms and explosives.
Vernon Keenan was an American roller coaster designer best known for his involvement with the Cyclone at Coney Island.
The shooting of Anthony Hill,a U.S. Air Force veteran,occurred on March 9,2015,in Chamblee,Georgia,near Atlanta. Hill,fatally shot by police officer Robert Olsen,suffered from mental illness and was naked and unarmed at the time of the incident. The incident was covered in local and national press and sparked the involvement of Black Lives Matter and other advocacy groups who demonstrated their anger at the shooting. In January 2016,a grand jury indicted officer Olsen on two counts of felony murder and one count of aggravated assault. Nearing the fourth anniversary of the homicide,it was decided that Olsen's trial would be rescheduled for September 23,2019,with delays including three successive judges having recused themselves in the case.
On February 23,2020,Ahmaud Arbery,a 25-year-old Black man,was murdered during a racially motivated hate crime while jogging in Satilla Shores,a neighborhood near Brunswick in Glynn County,Georgia. Erroneously assuming he was a burglar,three white men pursued Arbery in their trucks for several minutes,using the vehicles to block his path as he tried to run away. Two of the men,Travis McMichael and his father,Gregory McMichael,were armed and in one vehicle. Their neighbor,William "Roddie" Bryan,was in another vehicle. After overtaking Arbery,Travis McMichael exited his truck and assaulted Arbery with a shotgun. As Arbery attempted to defend himself,Travis McMichael shot him three times,murdering him. Bryan recorded this confrontation and murder of Arbery on his cell phone.
On August 5,2016,Jamarion Rashad Robinson,a 26-year-old African American man who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia,was shot 59 times and killed in a police raid in East Point,Georgia,a suburb of Atlanta. The shooting occurred when at least 14 officers of a Southeast Regional Fugitive Taskforce from at least seven different agencies,led by U.S. Marshals,forcibly entered the apartment of Robinson's girlfriend to serve a warrant for his arrest. The warrant was being served on behalf of the Gwinnett County police and the Atlanta Police Department,and authorities said they had sought his arrest for attempted arson and aggravated assault of a police officer. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) stated that Robinson had been repeatedly ordered to put down a weapon by officers and that he had reportedly fired at them three times.
On November 4,2018,Tamla Horsford was discovered dead in the backyard of the Cumming,Georgia,home where she had been attending a slumber party with other "football moms" the night before. The 40-year-old was a mother of five.
On August 7,2020,Julian Edward Roosevelt Lewis,an unarmed 60-year-old Black American carpenter,was fatally shot by white Georgia State Patrol officer Jacob Gordon Thompson,on a rural road in Screven County,Georgia. Thompson attempted to stop Lewis for driving a vehicle with a broken tail light. When Lewis failed to stop,Thompson performed a PIT maneuver to force Lewis's car into a ditch and shot Lewis once in the face. On August 14,Thompson was charged with felony murder.