GBI: Lee County doctor killed by gunshot wound to the head

LEESBURG — Officials with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation office in Americus said Monday that an emergency medicine physician at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital who was found dead in her home on Friday died from a gunshot wound to the head.

Mike Walsingham, assistant special agent in charge with the GBI Americus office, said in a news release that the cause of death for Dr. Lisa Marie Riley, 34, was a gunshot wound to the head, based on the findings from an autopsy conducted by the GBI crime lab in Macon.

Walsingham added that the manner of death is still under investigation and may take several weeks to determine. Authorities were still working the scene and conducting interviews on Monday, he said.

Meanwhile, the assistant special agent in charge said the physician’s husband, Yathomas Lee Riley, 32, was still in jail on charges unrelated to his wife’s death after his bond was revoked Friday. It is not clear yet if he will face charges relating to the death, Walsingham said.

“Though this tragic event occurred away from our campus, nonetheless, our emergency center staff members are deeply troubled and saddened by the tragic and untimely death of Dr. Riley,” said Victor Garcia, vice president of emergency services for Phoebe Putney Health System, in a statement Monday on the doctor’s death.

Representatives of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office and GBI opened up an investigation into the death of Lisa Riley at 578 Northhampton Road in Lee County after deputies responded to the residence at around 8:30 a.m Friday after her husband reportedly found her dead.

The Americus office of the GBI was asked to take over the investigation.