MERIWETHER COUNTY, Ga. — The person who found the body of 17-year-old Brandon Smith Sunday morning and called 911 spoke of finding the body by accident while looking for a lost wallet in the woods near a relative's home in Manchester.
Brandon was a student and football player at Manchester High School, and he had been missing since the previous Friday.
The 911 call just obtained by 11Alive figures into the homicide investigation that is now underway by Manchester Police and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Meriwether County 911 took the call.
Caller: “I found the boy that’s missing’s body.”
911 Dispatch: “Do you know whose body it is?”
Caller: “The boy that’s missing, Brandon Smith.”
911 Dispatch: “And you’re positive it’s Brandon Smith?”
Caller: “Yes, ma’am. I went to school with him.”
Brandon Smith was a sophomore at Manchester High School, playing for the Blue Devils' football team. He dreamed of a career in the NFL.
His body was found just as the team was getting ready to play in Atlanta Monday night for the state championship.
The 911 caller spoke of finding Brandon’s body near a relative's house, behind a home on Third Avenue in Manchester, while the caller had been searching the woods, there, for their lost wallet.
“Once you go back there to the house,” the caller said, "you’re not going to miss the body. You got to go all the way to the back, but you’re not going to miss the body.”
Soon, law enforcement was swarming the area and confirming that it was, in fact, Brandon’s body, and that it was possible that more than one person had killed him.
Brandon’s grandmother, Maxcine Smith, who reared him, said Monday, “I want the murder to be solved. I'm not going to rest until they catch the killer who killed my grandson. They took a part of me.”
Manchester’s Police Chief has not said yet if he has the results of the GBI’s preliminary autopsy.
And did Brandon die where he was found, or somewhere else and then brought there? Did police recover any evidence at the scene? Have they identified any possible suspects?
The 911 caller asked to remain anonymous but was told by 911 to stay put so police could do an interview.
“I’m scared,” the caller said. “I don’t want to get involved. I just wanted to report it.”
Brandon’s family is trying to raise money online for his funeral.
They cannot schedule the funeral until authorities release Brandon's body to them-- and they hope police will also release the answers that all of his loved ones need about Brandon’s death.