Two Georgia men will spend the rest of their lives in prison for the brutal murder of a homeless man discovered beaten, hog-tied, and anchored to the bottom of a lake, authorities announced this week.
In July 2023, John Andrew Mamph, 29, was living at an encampment in St. Mary’s, a small town just north of the Florida border, when he was attacked in a remote area known to locals as “Gilligan’s Island.”
According to Peach State authorities, the beating was carried out by a large group of at least three and possibly four people.
“The defendants then transported Mamph to a nearby boat ramp, where they put him in a boat and took him out on a lake,” according to a press release from the Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney. “While Mamph was still tied up, the defendants then weighed him down with multiple weights and dumped him into the lake so he would drown.”
Earlier this month, a jury found Frank Kennedy, 56, and Anthony Mistretta, 29, guilty of Mamph’s murder.
In total, the defendants were found guilty of one count each of malice murder, felony murder, false imprisonment, kidnapping, and battery in connection with the brutal slaying. Kennedy was also convicted of aggravated assault.
Following their conviction, the pair was sentenced immediately.
Mamph’s body was discovered shortly after noon the day after his murder by a local resident who was jet-skiing with his family.
“The citizen observed the submerged body of Mr. Mamph in the clear water, returned to shore, and called 911,” according to the prosecutors.
The discovery was grim.
The man’s body was paraded, not hidden.
Mamph was discovered tied to a cinder block at the bottom of the lake near a “aluminum roof flashing and also a black bag full of rocks tied together,” according to a police report obtained by Jacksonville, Florida-based NBC affiliate WTLV and Orange Park, Florida-based ABC affiliate WJXX, which collectively broadcast as First Coast News.
According to First Coast News, the man who found the body told police that he could “smell death” as he approached the victim.
That same night, a task force of local, county, and state law enforcement officers made their first arrests “based on eyewitness statements of the horrific crimes,” prosecutors stated.
Five people were charged in connection with the murder.
All of the defendants pleaded guilty prior to Kennedy and Mistretta’s trial.
Debra Leane Dougherty, 38, pleaded guilty to one count of felony murder and received a life sentence with the possibility of parole after at least 30 years.
Bernice Rose McGuire, 27, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and is awaiting sentence.
Megan Leigh Robison, 34, the least guilty of the quintet, initially lied to police about what she knew after the fact about Mamph’s murder; she later pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement and was sentenced to five years probation.
