Ex-boyfriend arrested after Georgia bookstore owner is found dead in creek

LOCUST GROVE, Ga. (TCD) -- A Georgia town is reeling after the beloved owner of Birdsong Books was reported missing and later found dead in a creek several miles away from her home.

According to WSB-TV, on March 5, a fisherman found a woman’s body in the water at Cedar Creek. Putnam County Sheriff’s Office investigators arrived at the scene and recovered the body. Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills told WSB the Locust Grove Police Department informed him about a possible homicide, and Sills sent Locus Grove Police a picture of the victim. Police confirmed the victim was, in fact, 42-year-old Erica Atkins.

Locust Grove Police arrested Atkins' ex-boyfriend Romero Johnson, who sometimes worked at her store Birdsong Books.

WXIA-TV reports Johnson was booked into the Henry County Jail on charges of kidnapping and murder.

According to the warrant cited by WXIA, Johnson was reportedly at Atkins' house the night she went missing. Surveillance video allegedly captured a person "grab a sheet or plastic lining from the garage and take it to cover Atkins’ body in the driveway."

Detectives reportedly discovered blood on Atkins' driveway and a pair of her earrings as well as blood in Johnson’s car.

In 2022, the Henry County Chamber of Commerce named Birdsong Books the 2022 Microbusiness of the Year, and in a tribute, called Atkins a "business and community leader."

Erica Atkins’ daughter, Jasmine, told WSB, "I’m really going to miss her. Your mother is the first person you look at when you come into this world. The person that’s holding you. That first heartbeat you feel other than your own. My mother was everything to me."

Locust Grove Police Chief Derrick Austin said, "To dispose of a body like that is just heartbreaking, senseless."

MORE:

• Body of beloved Henry County bookstore owner found in creek, employee charged in her death - WSB
• Family of beloved Henry Co. bookstore owner says suspect worked with her hours before her death - WSB
• Daughter, family hurting after deeply loved Henry County bookstore owner killed - WXIA