PANAMA CITY BEACH — A third college student has been arrested in connection with a group sexual battery of a young woman on Spring Break, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday.
George Davon Kennedy of Murfreesboro, Tenn., was arrested near Atlanta on Wednesday and is awaiting extradition to Bay County on a charge of principal to sexual battery by multiple perpetrators, BCSO announced.
Kennedy, who reportedly was being held Wednesday without bond at the DeKalb County Jail in Georgia, is the third suspect identified and apprehended in connection with what authorities are calling a Spring Break “gang rape” that occurred on a crowded beach in broad daylight in early March in Panama City Beach. Investigators said he was a participant in the battery, and he also appears in a video of the incident to be encouraging the attack.
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One more arrest still is pending, BCSO officials said Wednesday.
According to a BCSO news release, Kennedy is a student at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro.
After developing information that Kennedy was the third suspect seen in a video of the sexual battery, BCSO investigators obtained a warrant for his arrest. Investigators learned Kennedy has family in Dekalb County and contacted the Dekalb County Sheriff’s Office, who located Kennedy in its county and arrested him for principal to sexual battery by multiple perpetrators.
BCSO Maj. Tommy Ford said there did not appear to be a link between Kennedy and the other two men arrested in connection with the sexual battery.
“We don’t believe they have any connection other than being there on the beach together,” Ford said.
In a video that surfaced April 2, Kennedy can be seen standing in close proximity to the woman, apparently encouraging the attack, Ford added.
The victim thought she had been drugged and did not file a report because she did not remember the incident. The attack came to light after an investigation into a Troy, Ala., shooting, where police found the video on the phone of a witness to the shooting. BCSO has since been trying to identify all parties from a video that only encompasses about 15 seconds of the incident.
“Did more people play a role? We just don’t know,” Ford said.
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Delonté Martistee, a 22-year-old senior from Bainbridge, Ga., and Ryan Calhoun, a 23-year-old sophomore from Mobile, Ala., were arrested in Alabama on April 9 in connection with the incident. Both men, students at Troy University, have been charged with sexual battery by multiple perpetrators.
One other suspect, that investigators can determine from the video, remains unidentified and at large. BCSO said they are actively searching for him.
“It is a priority investigation for us,” Ford said.