ATLANTA — A former University of Georgia professor had secretly recorded a conversation with his wife about her apparent affair with an economist before he shot both of them and another man to death outside a community theater, according to police d
ATLANTA — A former University of Georgia professor had secretly recorded a conversation with his wife about her apparent affair with an economist before he shot both of them and another man to death outside a community theater, according to police documents. Cadaver dogs found the body of former marketing professor George Zinkhan, 57, two weeks after the April 25 shootings in a shallow grave he dug for himself in the woods not far from his north Georgia home. He had shot himself in the head. In a search warrant application, Sgt. Christopher Nichols wrote that he thinks Zinkhan "was initially gathering evidence for a divorce from Marie Bruce" and that "the murders were the result of continued contact between Marie Bruce and Thomas Tanner." Bruce, 47, was Zinkhan’s wife and Tanner, 40, was a Clemson University economist she was apparently seeing. Police have said Zinkhan appeared to target Tanner. The third victim, Ben Teague, 63, was in the wrong place at the wrong time, authorities have said. The three were members of a local theater group gathered the day of the shootings for a reunion at the Athens Community Theater. The search warrant applications and inventories from the searches of various locations — including Zinkhan’s home, his office at UGA and his Jeep — were obtained Wednesday by the Athens Banner-Herald newspaper. Police had not previously released a motive for the killings but said Zinkhan and Bruce were having "marital difficulties" and had received marriage counseling. A search warrant application indicates that Marie Bruce removed her name from the couple’s joint bank account in February. Authorities have said Zinkhan left his two young children in his red Jeep Liberty during the shootings. He was last seen dropping them off at a neighbor’s house soon after, saying there was an emergency. Authorities launched an international manhunt, fearing he might try to flee to Amsterdam, where he taught part-time, but his Jeep was found about a week later, crashed in a ravine in a rural wooded area not far from his home, and his body nearby a week after that. ______ Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
About Post Author
