Primate News

NEWNAN, GEORGIA - The Newnan Police Department announced Friday that an arrest has been made in the 2011 murder of Blake Tyler Chappell, bringing a major development in a case that has weighed heavily on the community for nearly 14 years.

Chappell, 17, was reported missing on October 16, 2011, after leaving his girlfriend’s home near Mary Freeman Road in Newnan to walk back to a friend’s house in the Summergrove neighborhood. Two months later, on December 19, 2011, his body was discovered, and the case shifted from a missing person investigation to a homicide.

After years without answers, investigators recently identified Scotty Elliot Smith as a person of interest. During the investigation into this new lead, the NPD detectives corroborated facts of the case, as related to Smith. During multiple interviews, Smith confessed to killing Chappell. He was arrested Friday and remains in custody at the Coweta County Jail.

https://thecitizen.com/2025/09/12/arres ... -chappell/