Clayton News Daily

By Johnny Jackson

jjackson@henryherald.com

A hearing date in the homicide case of a McDonough woman, who was killed while away at college, has been set for the fall.

The hearing, for all motions pertaining to the case of defendant Daryl Anthony Priestley, has been scheduled for Oct. 4, according to a scheduling order provided by the Superior Court of Bulloch County.

Priestley, 18, of McDonough, was indicted by a grand jury in February on charges of evidence-tampering, false statements, aggravated assault, and murder, according to the Ogeechee Judicial Circuit District Attorneys Office in Statesboro, Ga.

Statesboro Police arrested Priestley on Dec. 22, 2009, in connection with the death of a 19-year-old McDonough woman, Brandi Danielle Davis.

Court documents state that the Priestley case hearing will be held at 9 a.m., in the Bulloch County Judicial Annex in Statesboro, with Superior Court Chief Judge William Woodrum, Jr., presiding.

Davis was a former student of Union Grove High School in McDonough, and had been attending Ogeechee Technical College in Statesboro, where she was found dead on Dec. 8, 2009. Priestley was a student at nearby East Georgia College in Statesboro, according to reports from Statesboro Police.

Bulloch County Coroner Jake Futch, who conducted Davis' autopsy, deemed her death a homicide due to strangulation.