MOULTRIE — Prosecutors are considering seeking the death penalty in a brutal 2016 mass slaying that left five young adults dead in their burned-out home on Rossman Dairy Road. District Attorney Brad Shealy said that he has discussed the issue with family members of the four men and one woman who were fatally shot on May 15 at their 505 Rossman Dairy Road residence.

At issue is whether Shealy, head prosecutor for the state’s Southern Judicial Circuit, and his team will seek the death penalty against Jeffrey Alan Peacock, who is accused of committing the murders and arson.

“We have to make an announcement, one way or the other, (by) next week,” Shealy said. “We will make an announcement by the end of this week.”

A Colquitt County Grand Jury indicted Peacock earlier this month on five counts of malice murder and a corresponding number charging him with possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in each of those acts. Peacock also was indicted on three counts of aggravated cruelty to dogs and arson.

Initial Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office reports said that when a deputy arrived at the burning wood-frame house Peacock was at the scene. He told officers at that time that he had gone to get breakfast for his five friends living at the house and saw the smoke as he was returning.

According to Colquitt County E-911 call logs, Peacock was the second of three people who called in to report the blaze.

Inside the heavily damaged building police found the bodies of Jonathan Garrett Edwards, Ramsey Jones Pidcock and Aaron Reid Williams, all 21; 20-year-old Alicia Brooke Norman; and Jordan Shane Croft, 22. Peacock was 24 at the time.

The legal gears seem to be turning already in the direction of a capital murder case.

This week two defense attorneys with the Georgia Capital Defender’s Office filed paperwork in the case. Attorneys Melinda Ryals and H. Burton Baker from the Southwest Georgia Regional Office in Tifton filed paperwork stating that they are providing counsel for Peacock and have requested to be notified of any upcoming court proceedings in the case.

That action was taken after attorneys in Tifton received verbal notification on Friday from Shealy’s office of the potential for a death-penalty case, said Jerry Word, division director for the state office.

“We have been told to be prepared for it to be one,” he said. “We have not seen the notice.”

Word said that it may be “premature” to say for certain the route that prosecutors will take, and that nothing is official until they make that announcement.

Colquitt County officials also have been put on notice to prepare for the expense of a capital case, County Administrator Chas Cannon said.

In a letter addressed to Cannon dated March 21, Superior Court Judge Brian McDaniel made the recommendation that the county should expect to incur possible expenses related to the extra costs related to a capital case beginning in the 2017-2018 budget year and for the two years following.

“It is my understanding that the case is expected to involve the death penalty,” McDaniel said in the letter. “If this in fact is true, the matter could have an impact on the Colquitt County budget for the sheriff’s department, the District Attorney’s Office and the Super Court’s Office for the next several years.”

The county should anticipate a request to move the trial to another part of the state, the letter said.

Cannon said he has spoken with officials in Spalding County, which had a similar trial, and was told the added costs to Colquitt County could be $75,000 to $100,000 over a three-year period.

“We are planning for it to happen,” he said. “If it costs more, it costs more; if it costs less, it costs less. We are planning (ahead) for it.”

Another indication that Peacock’s case is in a different category is that his name is not on Monday’s Superior Court arraignment calendar as are the others indicted at the same time.

Shealy said that the initial legal step to go forward with a capital murder case is for his office to file intent to do so with the Colquitt County Clerk of Court.