A Rabun County woman believed murdered in July was killed before the start of a murder trial in which she was expected to testify.
Sources tell Now Habersham that Angela Ledford, who went by “Angie,” not only knew the suspects accused of killing a Mountain City, Georgia, woman in Otto, North Carolina, in May 2022 but was an eyewitness to the crime.
Friends say the suspects in the North Carolina murder case “ran in the same circles” as Ledford.
While authorities have not officially confirmed Ledford’s death, pending confirmation from the state crime lab in Decatur, they have all but said it was her that they found while searching multiple crime scenes in Rabun County in August.
The 22-year-old Ledford went missing weeks prior to the discovery. Authorities were tipped off to her murder by a man now charged in connection to her death, Bob Peppers.
‘He killed her’
Peppers owned a tree-cutting service in Rabun County. On Sunday, August 6, he called Hall County E-911 to report a murder. Peppers told the dispatcher he found a dead body on his property in Clayton and said one of his employees “killed her.”
Two days later, that employee, Keegan Phillips, was arrested after an intense manhunt in the Gillsville community of Hall County. Following his arrest, a man told reporters he and his son picked up a hitchhiker, later identified as Phillips. He said the hitchhiker carried with him a backpack that had a “foul odor” coming from it.
Ledford’s family posted her obituary with a local funeral home, calling Ledford “a loving mother, daughter, sister, and granddaughter.” Ledford, who worked as a cashier at a Clayton restaurant, had a young daughter.
The GBI is assisting the Rabun County Sheriff’s Office with its investigation. Authorities have not released any new information on the case since August; however, sources tell Now Habersham that Ledford’s presumed murder ties back to last year’s death of Tina Walkingstick Frizsell of Mountain City.
Walkingstick, a mother of two, was killed the day before her 43rd birthday. Detectives determined that she and Ledford had been kidnapped.
Shot then burned
According to public records reported on by the Smoky Mountain News, Frizsell – commonly referred to by her native American maiden name Walkingstick – was shot to death at a residence in Otto.
The News outlined “strange and heinous details” of Walkingstick’s kidnapping and murder based on affidavits from search warrants obtained from the Macon County Sheriff’s Office.
According to those records, Christopher Shields allegedly shot and killed Tina Walkingstick at his residence on South Tryphosa Road in Otto. The property is located just a few miles north of the Rabun County line.
After the murder, her body was moved to another location on Mulberry Road in Macon County and burned. Walkingstick’s remains were positively identified in August last year using DNA provided by her family.
Shields is charged with her murder and other crimes, including possession of firearm by a felon, concealing a death, destroying a body, and felony conspiracy to commit murder. He is being housed in the Macon County Detention Center in Franklin, North Carolina, awaiting trial. His bond was set last year at $1.2 million.
Three other suspects were arrested for their involvement in the murder and subsequent cover-up.
Andrew Derek McCrackin and Jessica Smith are both charged with concealing a death, destroying a body, felony conspiracy to commit murder, and as accessories after the fact.
Lenore “Lenoka” Wilson faces two counts of first-degree kidnapping. The charges stem from her alleged refusal to allow Walkingstick and Ledford to leave the shed where the murder took place when they had an opportunity.
Smith recently spoke with Now Habersham. She says she knew Ledford and Keegan Phillips, the suspect charged in Ledford’s murder. She says she knew of Robert Peppers but did not know him personally.
According to Smith, Phillips, McCrackin, and Shields worked for the same tree service company.
McCrackin’s attorney Ward Collins refutes that claim as it relates to his client.
“He did not ‘run in the same circles’ and he never worked for Mr. Peppers,” Collins said in a letter and email exchange with Now Habersham following the publication of this article.
Leford was a witness to murder, defendant says
Smith says she had conversations with both Shields and Ledford, confirming they were the only two in the shed when Tina “Walkingstick” Friszell was shot and killed. She also says she and Ledford were the ones who spoke to the Macon County Sheriff’s detectives about the murder.
According to Ledford’s statements to detectives, Shields shot the victim in the mouth. Ledford told detectives that she “freaked out” and “needed to leave,” at which time Shields allegedly pushed her against the wall to prevent her from leaving. Shields’ then allegedly told her that if she tried to leave, he would shoot her.
Ledford disappeared weeks ahead of a pre-trial administrative hearing in the case.
On September 11, Shields appeared in Macon County Superior Court to request a reduction in bond. Assistant District Attorney James Moore informed him and his attorney that he would be serving a Rule 24 in the case.
Rule 24 is where the district attorney’s office can transfer a felony case to a capital case and seek the death penalty.
The judge did not hear either motion and rescheduled the hearing for September 25.
This article has been updated with comments from Derek McCrackin’s attorney
