The man accused of murdering and decapitating a Clayton, Georgia, woman is set to go to court later this spring. Keegan Phillips was indicted last fall in the murder of Angela “Angie” Ledford.
Phillips was arrested after his employer at the time, Robert Lee Peppers, turned him in to authorities. Peppers, who ran Bob’s Local Tree Service – also known as Bob’s Tree Service – was arrested and booked in the Rabun County jail on August 6 after reporting the murder in a 911 call to Hall County authorities. He was charged at that time with concealing a death and unlawful disposal of a body.
Two days later, Phillips was arrested after an hours-long manhunt in the Gillsville area of Hall County. He remains in custody and was charged with Ledford’s murder.
According to Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney George Christian, both defendants waived their arraignment and entered written not guilty pleas through their attorneys.
Phillips remains in custody at the Rabun County Detention Center. Peppers is out of jail on a $50,000 bond.
Court dates have been tentatively set for March, April, and May of this year to hear the case and possibly go to trial. However, Christian says that based on the seriousness of the charges and the extensive investigation, he would not be surprised if the case did not follow that schedule.
RELATED: Ledford killed ahead of murder trial in which she was a witness
Grand Jury indictments
In documents obtained from the Rabun County Clerk of Courts office, a Rabun County grand jury indicted Phillips and Peppers on October 5, 2023.
Peppers was indicted on one count of abandonment of a dead body and one count of concealing the death of another.
The grand jury indicted Phillips with one count of malice murder, one count of felony murder, one count of aggravated assault, and two counts of abandonment of a dead body.
It is unclear when Ledford was actually murdered. The indictments place the date of her death sometime between July 28 and August 4. It is alleged that Phillips initially buried Ledford’s body in a hole he was digging for a well on Peppers’ property at 128 Pepper Lane in Rabun County, just outside of Clayton.
According to court documents, after Phillips admitted to Peppers he killed Ledford, they moved her body to a wooded area off Patterson Gap Road. That’s where GBI agents and Rabun County detectives recovered her remains.
Walkingstick murder
The 22-year-old Ledford was killed before testifying in the Otto, NC murder case of a Mountain City, GA woman, Tina Walkingstick Frizsell. According to statements taken by the Macon County Sheriff’s Office, Ledford was an eyewitness to Frizsell’s murder in May 2022. Ledford had been missing for several weeks before her body was discovered.
Chris Shields is charged with Walkingstick’s shooting death and currently faces capital murder charges and the possibility of the death penalty in North Carolina.
Macon County (NC) District Attorney Ashley Welch believes that the two murder cases are connected due to Shields having a “hit list” of potential witnesses. She stated in Macon County Superior Court in September that she would be working with Georgia authorities on their investigation into Ledford’s murder.
