Following an unsuccessful attempt to locate the body of Justin Gaines, 18, in Walton County earlier this month, two arrests have been made and more local names have surfaced in connection with the case.
The Snellville teen went missing from Wild Bills night club in Duluth in the early morning hours of Nov. 2, 2007 after unsuccessfully trying to get a ride home.
Thelma Ruth Ballew. Photo courtesy of Walton County Sheriff’s Office.
Last month, after being arrested in Monroe for burglary, Thelma Ruth Ballew told Walton County Sheriff’s Office that she knew where the remains were located, leading to a week-long search. According to an arrest warrant for a second person implicated in the disappearance of Gaines, Ballew had previously told investigators with WCSO that she participated in the disposal of Gaines’ body. The warrant was for Martin Leonard Wilkie, who on Sept. 3, 2015 was charged with concealing a death. He is out on $10,000 bond. Ballew remains in Walton County Detention Center on a total of $12,500 bond, $5,000 for the original charge of burglary and $7,500 for false statements and writings.
Dustin Dylan Glass, 28. Photo Credit – Georgia Department of Corrections
According to the arrest warrant for Wilkie, Ballew and her son, Dustin Dylan Glass, 28, spoke to investigators in February this year at which time Glass implicated himself, in front of his attorney, in a beating that allegedly led to the shooting death of Gaines on Nov. 2, 2007. Glass was convicted in April this year and is currently serving a 14-year sentence in federal prison for drug activity, conspiracy to commit murder, racketeering, aggravated assault and participation in gang activity. None of those charges were linked to the Gaines case.
According to the arrest warrant for Wilkie, another local woman was interviewed and corroborated the information, telling investigators that she was present during the alleged assault that led to the eventual death of Gaines.
Martin Leonard Wilkie, Photo credit: Walton County Sheriff’s Office
Ballew told investigators that Wilkie and another man allegedly carried the body to the location on High Shoals road where the unsuccessful search for the remains took place earlier this month. There is no record of him being arrested at this time. The body was allegedly transported in a large black toolbox, but no toolbox was located during the search of the High Shoals property in Walton County.
Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter is quoted in the Gwinnett Daily Post as saying he believes the leads provided by Ballew and Glass were not credible. Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman and Gwinnett County Sheriff Butch Conway have said they believe that the case will be solved. Chapman has said that officials are “100 percent certain that (Gaines) was murdered and that a large percentage of the people involved were from Walton County.”