Death penalty won't be sought in Colquitt multiple slaying case

By Alan Mauldin

MOULTRIE — A woman indicted in June in the 2004 slaying of five members of a Colquitt County family had her first court appearance in the case on Tuesday.

Wilma Ann Yvonne Stover, 22, was arraigned Tuesday in Colquitt County Superior Court. Stover, 31, is accused in connection with the deaths of Jaime Cruz Resendez, 25, Katrina Darlene Resendez, 29, Lillianna Aguillar Rodriguez, 30, Betty Watts, 50, and 3-year-old Juan Carlos Resendez.

Prior to her return to Colquitt County, Stover, who lived In Nashville, Ga., at the time of the Nov. 8, 2004, slayings at a home on Adel Highway in Colquitt County, was serving time in federal custody on marijuana charges.

She was returned Tuesday to Colquitt County and will be housed in Thomas County in a separate facility from co-defendant Jerry Johnny Thompson, who is being held in Colquitt County. Thompson was indicted in December 2006.

Stover had been held previously in a federal Community Corrections Management facility in Atlanta prior to her return to Southwest Georgia. The Federal Bureau of Prisons Web site gave her expected release date in that conviction as Oct. 27, 2009.

On Wednesday, David Miller, district attorney for the Southern Judicial District, said he has decided not to seek the death penalty against Stover.