A 24-year-old man has been identified as the victim found dead inside a condemned house on the 1800 block of Fenwick Street in Augusta, a home that had no running water or electricity. Richmond County Coroner Mark Bowen said the man had been dead for several days before he was discovered.
The Richmond County Coroner’s Office identified the victim as Joseph Michael Judy Jr., 24, of Augusta, according to WRDW. The coroner’s office responded to the residence regarding the suspicious death, and Judy was pronounced dead at 1:04 p.m. Wednesday, per the station’s report. An autopsy has since been scheduled to determine the cause and manner of death, though results had not been released.
Condemned Home Had No Power or Water
The house where Judy was found dated to 1911 and had no running water or electricity, according to The Augusta Press. The outlet reports that the property owner had allowed two people to move into the home about six months earlier. It was not immediately clear from available reporting whether Judy was one of those two occupants.
Richmond County Code Enforcement condemned the house after the body was discovered inside, according to WJBF. The outlet also reported that the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Division responded to the location to carry out an investigation into the circumstances of Judy’s death. Code enforcement officials were called in separately to assess the living conditions at the property, an inspection that led directly to the condemnation.
Identity Confirmed After Initial Investigation
When the death was first reported Wednesday, authorities had not yet released the victim’s identity, and officials said notification of next of kin was still pending. That identification has since been made public through the coroner’s office, closing one piece of an investigation that remains open while the autopsy results are awaited.
Suspicious deaths have drawn coroner response in Augusta before. In a separate case on September 7, a male victim was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:50 p.m. near 5th Street and Taylor Street in downtown Augusta, according to WFXG. In that case, authorities had not released the deceased’s identity and the investigation remained ongoing, the station reported. No connection between the two cases has been established.
No arrests or suspects have been publicly identified in connection with Judy’s death, and investigators have not released further details on the cause of his death pending the autopsy. Hoodline will update this story as more information becomes available.
