Dougherty coroner investigates pair of Friday deaths

ALBANY — Hours after he began an investigation into the death of a man found at the corner of West Lincoln Avenue and South Shadowlawn Drive in Albany Friday morning, Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler got a late-afternoon call related to “an apparent self-inflicted gunshot victim” on Stagecoach Road.

The coroner said Friday morning the body of Earnie Sapp, 54, was found at the intersection of West Lincoln and Shadowlawn at 7:30 a.m. Fowler said at the time that the death appeared to be from natural causes, but he cautioned that a cause of death had not been confirmed. He said late Friday that no official pronouncement had been made by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

“A definitive confirmation on cause of death is still pending,” the coroner said at around 4 p.m. “It’s not my place to speculate, but my initial assessment was that the gentleman most probably died of natural causes. His body was sent to the GBI crime lab (in Macon), and we won’t know (the official cause of death) until they’ve taken blood and urine samples and analyzed them.”

Fowler said the location of Sapp’s body was a factor in involving the crime lab.

“When a body is located outside, that adds to potential complications,” he said. “We don’t know if he had problems last night or this happened early this morning. That’s what the investigation by the crime lab will determine.”

Fowler had little information on the second death of the day, saying only that he’d received a call about a “gunshot victim” that was apparently “self-inflicted.” He said his initial call indicated that the victim was male.

Albany Police Department Chief Michael Persley said Friday afternoon that while he did not yet have a full report on the Sapp case, protocol was followed in determining whether there was cause to believe foul play was involved in the 54-year-old’s death.

“I can say that the initial report is that the gentleman’s death was most likely from natural causes,” Persley said. “But at this time, the coroner is conducting the investigation. Until he has the information from the crime lab that allows for the determination of cause of death, the case remains in the hands of the coroner.

“If, however, it is determined that foul play may have been involved, the case will be turned back over to our office, and we will conduct a thorough investigation.”

Fowler said he is on call this weekend for all Dougherty and Lee County death cases. The Lee County coroner (Ronald Rowe Sr.) is out of town, and Fowler often serves as the on-call official in his stead under an agreement between the two counties.