A Murder in Bent Tree

Bent Tree Community, a private gated community located four miles east of Jasper, Georgia, had its first houses built in 1970. Today, there are over 1,100 homes. When I moved into the community in late 2018, I was told a murder had never happened within Bent Tree's gates throughout its entire history.

Forever a skeptic, I set out to determine the truthfulness of that statement. In 2022, as we approached the 50th Anniversary of the Bent Tree Golf Course, I reached out to two members of one of the first families who lived within Bent Tree. I invited them to the celebration. When we met in person, I took them on a guided tour of the neighborhood.

Many changes happened within Bent Tree in the decades since they left. And as we drove around, they were periodically taken back in time as they encountered a place, or object that jogged their memory.

While driving through the Little Pine and Mole Mountain sections of Bent Tree, the younger of the two former residents recalled a tragic murder.

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Carl Francis

In early 1982, Carl and his wife Margery were living in a brand new house in a then isolated area of the Mole Mountain Section of Bent Tree. At the time, the neighborhood was far more rustic and unpopulated, having a mere 150 houses spread across 3,500 acres. Just two years prior they moved to Bent Tree from Marietta. On January 27th, Carl called the police. He told the Sheriff's Department his 53-year-old wife had shot herself in the head with a 30-06 rifle.

Margie Francis

At the crime scene, the Pickens County Sheriff's Department enlisted the help of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The GBI was suspicious of the suicide explanation and upon further examination, determined Carl had murdered his wife.

He was charged with felony murder and his trial was scheduled for later that year in Pickens County. That October, a jury found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to a multi-year prison term. Sadly, he was released from prison within a few short years.

Pickens Progress, February, 1982

After being released, Carl moved away from Bent Tree and gained employment at an Econo-Flash convenience store in Gwinett County. In October of 1986, two men tried robbing him. But they were unsuccessful. He fought off his attackers but suffered cuts to his shoulder and head. When asked about the event he replied, "You betcha I know how to take care of myself."

Atlanta Journal, October, 1986

He proved that more than once.

As a former member of the military, he had been trained in weapons and hand-to-hand combat. Regardless, violence seemed to follow him wherever he went.

Carl passed away of natural causes on January 18, 1988, and to my surprise, was buried beside his wife, a mere six years later.

Francis family gravesite, Georgia Memorial Park, Marietta, Georgia

Carl and Margery's two daughters are living in the southeastern United States. More than forty years later, the tragedy still haunts them.