Police Discover Missing Grandfather’s Body Parts In New Neighbor’s Yard

MORROW, GA — Authorities revealed surveillance footage and a trail of blood helped them find the dismembered body of an elderly grandfather at his next-door neighbor’s house.

The Clayton County Police Department said Lula Page called to report her husband of 49 years, Robert Page, 77, was missing when she came home from work late on November 8.

"According to his wife, he never left his residence, he always stayed at home ... he got along with other residents and was always a good gentleman,” said Major Craig Hammer.

When cops arrived to investigate the man’s disappearance, they checked surveillance footage, which led them to 25-year-old Christian Ponce-Martinez, who recently moved to Morrow and started renting a room in his friend’s home next to the Pages’ property three months ago.

“The officers went to the back of the residence and located the offender hiding under a couch, acting very nervous and suspicious,” said Hammer. “Officers then noticed a trail of blood. They followed it and it was Robert Page’s dismembered remains.”

WXIA reported body parts were found stashed under a tarp and in a cooler.

Officials noted the two men did not know each other and may have gotten into an argument outside Page’s house.

"He’s irreplaceable. The personality he had was priceless. Nobody will ever be able to top him,” said the victim’s grandson, Bobby Austin. “He was a very [big-hearted] person … and to go in such a tragic way, it just hit us all really hard at the moment.”

Nancy Jones, a Page family friend, noted the grandfather was “very well-respected in the neighborhood,” and she’s shocked “that something so brutal could happen.”

Ponce-Martinez was charged with murder and obstruction and is currently being held at the Clayton County Jail without bail.

Read more: WBAL-TV, WSB-TV, 11Alive