True Crime Georgia: The Columbus Files

By J.R. Stranahan

In The Columbus Files, J.R. Stranahan follows nine investigations across Columbus, Muscogee County, Fort Benning, and the connected community of Phenix City. The record begins with the 1941 lynching of Private Felix Hall inside a segregated Army post and the assassination of reform candidate Albert Patterson across the river. It examines the unresolved killing of civil-rights leader Dr. Thomas Brewer, the DNA evidence that overturned Johnny Gates's original conviction, and the Stocking Strangler prosecution that terrified Columbus.

The later files include the delayed convictions for the murders of Ann, Erika, and Ryan Curry, the killing of Specialist Richard Davis after his return from Iraq, the international search for the man who killed Randy Newton Jr. and Bryan Kilgore, and the cross-state capital case arising from five-year-old Kamarie Holland's death.

Built from court opinions, government records, military archives, and documented reporting, this is victim-centered narrative true crime that distinguishes allegations from judgments and legal closure from the questions that remain.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0HKGBLGLZ
• ISBN13: 9798175806725
• Release Date: September 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 138 Pages
• Weight: 0.39 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"