A Georgia man has been charged with the death of Deborah and Harry Hubbard several months after murder charges against their son were dropped.
The Hubbards’ lifeless bodies were discovered in their Atlanta home on July 3, 2018, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Deborah Hubbard had a cord around her neck and there was evidence showing her husband was also a strangulation victim. Their house was set on fire after the killings.
Six months after the slayings, Keith Sylvester, Deborah Hubbard’s son, was charged with murder, strangulation, arson, aggravated assault and insurance fraud. Authorities accused him of killing his mother and stepfather to reap the benefits of an insurance policy on Deborah Hubbard on which Sylvester was the sole beneficiary of the policy.
Sylvester sat in Fulton County Jail for 15 months before the charges were dropped in March. On Wednesday, Fulton County District Attorney Paul L. Howard Jr. confirmed Hubbard was cleared and another man has been arrested.
“The case against Keith Sylvester was dismissed after the matter was independently investigated by the Major Felonies Unit of the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office,” Howard said in a statement. “The result of this investigation shows that an assailant, who was unnamed in the original police investigation, was, in fact, in the house of Deborah and Harry Hubbard 20 minutes before a 911 call was placed regarding the fire that caused their deaths.”
The new suspect was identified as 44-year-old Cornelius Muckle, who was arrested on Aug. 27, per 11 Alive.
Investigators executed a Google geofence search warrant — such a warrant can determine which cellphones have been in proximity to a particular location during a given time period — that placed Muckle’s phone in the couple’s home at the time of the murders. It took Google nine months to send the information to the district attorney’s office, prosecutors say.
“The results of this search warrant identified Cornelius Muckle as the culprit whose phone was inside the house at the time of the crimes,” the statement continued. “Additionally, the Google information also revealed that Muckle pawned several items belonging to the Hubbard’s two days after the homicide. Based upon this evidence, Muckle was charged in this incident, and the case against Keith Sylvester was dismissed.”
Sylvester always maintained his innocence and accused Atlanta Police detectives of lying “in order to keep me in jail.”
“I was very hurt first of all that my mother had passed away and my stepdad,” he told WGRZ. “You know I loved them both very much. This is not something that I would do. If I’m angry with people I just simply won’t talk to ’em. You know I’ve never put my hands on anyone unless they put their hands on me. You know … absolutely not.”
Sylvester’s lawyers have filed a lawsuit against James Barnett and Darren Smith, two detectives working for the Atlanta Police Department.
