SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) 鈥 Tom Durden, the Georgia district attorney who kick-started the prosecution of Ahmaud Arbery鈥檚 killing by calling in state investigators to take over the languishing case, has died at age 66.
The Atlantic Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office, which Durden led for 24 years before stepping down last year, confirmed Durden's death in a Facebook post Friday. No cause of death was given.
During his career of nearly four decades, Durden served briefly as the second outside prosecutor overseeing the investigation into the February 2020 killing of Arbery. The 25-year-old Black man in pickup trucks who chased him through their Georgia neighborhood. The shooter said he fired in self-defense.
The case for more than two months before Durden asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to take over from local police. GBI agents rapidly made arrests that led to . Durden stepped aside soon after the arrests, saying the case needed a DA with a larger staff.
鈥淗e played a significant role, as we know the others before him did nothing,鈥 said Thea Brooks, one of Arbery鈥檚 aunts. 鈥淣o matter how long he had it on his desk, he did the right thing.鈥
Following Arbery鈥檚 killing outside the port city of Brunswick in 2020, the local district attorney and the first outside prosecutor assigned, George Barnhill, opposed bringing criminal charges before he stepped aside.
Georgia鈥檚 attorney general then appointed Durden, who had the case for roughly a month amid a growing outcry for arrests. Durden asked the GBI to get involved after cellphone video of the killing leaked online May 5, 2020.
Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael on murder charges the day after GBI agents arrived in Brunswick. A neighbor, was charged soon after.
鈥淭he fact that he sent it to the GBI was a positive turn in the case for us, and I think he deserves credit for it,鈥 said the Rev. John Perry, who led Brunswick鈥檚 NAACP chapter at the time Arbery was killed.
The job of prosecuting the McMichaels and Bryan to the district attorney for Cobb County in metro Atlanta. All three men were ultimately convicted of murder in 2021 and sentenced to life in prison.
Durden joined the district attorney's office as an assistant prosecutor in 1984, two years after earning his law degree from Mercer University. He was elected DA after his predecessor retired in 1998.
Durden prosecuted hundreds of criminal cases in the Atlantic Circuit, which covers six southeast Georgia counties outside Savannah.
鈥淢r. Durden was a true public servant to the State of Georgia for close to 40 years,鈥 Pete Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys鈥 Council of Georgia, said in a statement. 鈥淢y sincerest condolences to Tom鈥檚 family.鈥
In 1998, Durden successfully prosecuted four family members and a friend in the killing of Thurmon Martin, a case that would become known as Georgia's infamous 鈥渢omato patch鈥 murder.
Martin, 64, was shot while sleeping in May 1997 and buried behind his home in rural Ludowici. The case gained notoriety for the tomato plants growing atop Martin's grave, as well as the defendants' harrowing courtroom accounts of being abused by the slain man.
