MOULTRIE, Ga. — A Colquitt County man jailed on charges of killing his grandfather has a lengthy criminal history in the area, including assault, kidnapping and theft.

Billy Gene May was stabbed multiple times on Friday at his residence outside Berlin, according to police.

Jonathan Reene Weaver, 27, is charged with murder in the death of 78-year-old May.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has not released details on the circumstances of the slaying, but did say that Weaver attacked and stabbed May multiple times at 1845 Cannon Road.

Alanna Croft, an employee at the Colquitt County Clerk of Court office, said that she remembered May as “a nice man” from when he and his wife baby-sat her at an early age.

“He was probably one of the friendliest men I’ve ever met in my life,” she said. “He never met a stranger. Mr. Billy is probably the most easygoing-est man I ever met.”

Prior to Weaver’s arrest in the Friday slaying, his most severe brushes with the law came in 2011 when he was accused of kidnapping and assaulting a Moultrie woman that he abducted in a stolen truck.

Police at the time said that Weaver and a woman had a text exchange that led to Weaver confronting her at her residence in the 100 block of 29th Avenue Northwest. Weaver reportedly forced her into a black Ford F-150 pickup truck and drove to a restaurant.

After arriving at the restaurant he hit the woman in the face.

Weaver pleaded guilty in March 2012 to aggravated assault and was sentenced to an eight-year sentence on probation and $1,000 fine.

While serving that sentence he did a couple of 10-month stints in Colquitt County Jail for violation of probation, in one instance for driving while under the influence of “spice” — a synthetic marijuana product — and another time for failing to report to his probation officer for a drug test.

In 2008 police arrested Weaver, then 17, on eight counts of entering an auto in a rash of property thefts from cars. Weaver pleaded guilty in March 2009 to one count of entering auto and was sentenced to spend 90 to 160 days in a state detention center, five years to serve on probation, a $1,500 fine and 40 hours of community service work.

In March 2009 Weaver was arrested in Brooks County, where he was accused of trying to sell hydrocodone pain medication pills for $2 each.

And in January 2017 he was charged in Thomas County with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and tampering with evidence.

In October of that year a Colquitt County Superior Court judge ordered Weaver’s probation revoked and he was sent to a Georgia Department of Corrections prison facility. He began serving his sentence on Oct. 19, 2017, and was released on Feb. 1.

Earlier this year police were called to the scene of a fire in which Weaver’s car burned on Aug. 14 under the carport at 612 U.S. Hwy. 319 North.

A resident in the neighborhood had complained to police after a family member had seen Weaver jump over their fence and recorded him on video “bathing in rain at (6:30 p.m.)” during a storm. Another resident at that location reported seeing Weaver walk out of their house about 7:30 p.m.

Firefighters called for police assistance as they were fighting the car fire, to report a suspicious person. They told police that Weaver walking in between the fire trucks and about the complaints of the neighbors, and that Weaver was “acting strange.”

When a Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office deputy questioned Weaver, he said that the house belonged to May, whom he identified as his father. He said that he was in the nearby resident’s yard because he had only moved in a week ago and “was just trying to get to know my neighbors,” police said.

At the resident’s request, police served a trespass notice to Weaver warning that he would be arrested if he returned to their property.

In May’s slaying, Weaver is charged with felony murder, malice murder, two counts aggravated assault, possession of a firearm/knife during the commission of a crime, kidnapping, two counts exploitation and intimidation of an elderly person, and simple battery.

He is in Colquitt County Jail.