by Al Summers
News Editor
alsummers@timescourier.com
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East Ellijay fugitive captured in Alabama by Al Summers News Editor • alsummers@timescourier.com
A fugitive wanted in connection with the June 16, 2000, hit-and-run death of 16 year-old Dustin Inman in an automobile accident at an East Ellijay intersection is now behind bars after being on the run for five years.
According to Gilmer County Sheriff Stacy Nicholson, Gonzalo Harrell-Gonzalez has been in custody in Birmingham, Ala., for the past few weeks and was in the process of being released when Nicholson and officers from his department, along with agents from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) asked that x-rays taken of Harrell-Gonzalez at the time of the accident be compared to x-rays of the man in custody. A GBI anthropologist confirmed the man in custody had x-rays that matched the x-rays taken the night of the accident.
Harrell-Gonzalez had been incarcerated in Birmingham earlier this year on an unrelated charge, and when faced with having to answer for the vehicular homicide charge, he produced a false birth certificate claiming he was not Gonzalo Harrell-Gonzalez, but the brother of Gonzalo Harrell-Gonzalez. He was released.
Inman’s father, Billy, told the Times-Courier Monday afternoon, “I feel like a huge burden has been lifted off of me and my family. I want to thank all of those who have assisted in his (Harrell-Gonzalez’s) capture.
Nicholson said the fugitive would be returned to Georgia to stand trial. Harrell-Gonzalez was indicted on charges of vehicle homicide, serious injury by a vehicle, and reckless driving by a 2001 October Gilmer County grand Jury.
Harrell-Gonzalez is in the United States illegally.