MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Superior Court Chief Judge William A. Prior Jr. has ruled there is enough evidence against murder suspect Marcus Lillard to bound the case over to a grand jury in Baldwin County. 

Lillard is accused in the strangulation death of 43-year-old University of Georgia Professor Marianne Clopton Shockley, whose body was found near a hot tub and swimming pool at a residence in Baldwin County back on May 12.

Shockley, an internationally-known entomology professor, who lived in Morgan County, had been dating Lillard for about a year.

The 41-year-old Lillard, a former car salesman who lived in Milledgeville, was arrested shortly after Shockley’s body was found at the residence of Clark Heindel at 115 Watson Reynolds Road. Heindel’s home was located just east of the Oconee River, a short distance from Milledgeville.

Lillard and Heindel reportedly waited some two hours before Heindel called the Baldwin County Emergency 911 Center for help when Shockley became unresponsive.

Before the 911 call was made, Lillard and the late Heindel made a number of telephone calls about 11:20 o’clock on the Saturday night that the crimes reportedly happened. One of those calls was to a respiratory therapist, who urged them to call 911. Lillard, meanwhile, reportedly made five different phone calls and messaged five different people on social media inquiring about how to perform life-saving measures.

Both reportedly performed CPR on Shockley, the mother of two children, after she was found unresponsive in a hot tub.

It wasn’t until after 1 a.m. that Heindel made the 911 call for help, authorities said.

The case took on an even more bizarre twist when the 69-year-old Heindel, a former clinical psychologist and businessman in Milledgeville, went inside a bathroom of his residence after authorities arrived on the scene to investigate Shockley’s death and shot himself in the head. Authorities have ruled his death a suicide.

Lillard was arrested and charged with murder, aggravated assault, and concealing the death of another.

A commitment hearing, or what also is referred to as a preliminary hearing, was held Friday morning in Baldwin County Superior Court. Such a hearing is held to determine if there is enough evidence to go to trial. 

Similar to a trial in many regards, attorneys representing the prosecution and defense were able to ask questions of the state’s only witness to testify at the hearing. After testimony ended, attorneys from both sides argued the facts of the case as are presently known.

Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Stephen A. Bradley, who was assisted in the hearing by Assistant District Attorney Savanna Roughen, called only one witness to testify. The witness was Special Agent Michael Maybin with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) Region 6 Office in Milledgeville.

The GBI was called to assist the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office with the crime scene investigation and other aspects regarding Shockley’s murder.

Following testimony in the nearly two-hour-long hearing, Prior ruled there was sufficient evidence to bound the suspect over to a grand jury for consideration of indictment proceedings against him.

Bradley told The Union-Recorder on Monday afternoon that he does not yet know when he will present the case to a grand jury.

“The case remains under investigation right now by the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office and GBI,” Bradley said.

Once the case is completed, the case file will be sent to the district attorney who will then review it and decide whether or not to present it to the grand jury, based on the evidence gathered during the course of the investigation.

Lillard was represented at the hearing by defense attorney Frank Hogue of the Macon law firm Hogue, Hogue, Fitzgerald & Griffin.