District Attorney Don Kelly said the state will not seek the death penalty for Stacey Gray in the upcoming November murder trial for the death of Renee Eldridge. Kelly said he inherited the case eight years into it and “to start from the beginning of the death penalty process in Georgia…I felt with the time already passed it just seemed like a bad idea.”
The father of the victim, Rick Eldridge said it could possibly take another five years for a trial in addition to the ten years they’ve already waited if the state sought the death penalty, “I know that it takes years before he would be put to death. It would take 20 or 30 years is what I’ve been told…I think we’re going to be okay with it” and that the family is confident prosecutors have enough evidence for a conviction on all charges.
Eldridge was abducted from her home in Columbus during the early morning hours of July 4th, 2015. Her body was found in a Valley, Alabama creek three days later. She suffered from blunt force trauma to the head according to an autopsy report.
Stacey Gray was a family friend at the time of the murder and was identified as the prime suspect early on in the case. Gray was captured and taken into custody in Notasulga, Alabama after a manhunt July 13, 2015. Charges initially brought in Chambers County were dismissed in 2021 after a court ruling excluding DNA evidence. Gray was then extradited back to Columbus for charges of rape and false imprisonment. Those charges stemmed from an earlier, separate incident involving Eldridge.
Gray will stand trial November 17,2025 for charges of murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault and rape for the death of Eldridge.
