Police investigate how Brookhaven man's body ended up in Clayton County

LOVEJOY, Ga. — Police are trying to figure out how a man reported missing ended up tied up and burned to death in a wooded area.
 
The gruesome discovery has people who live in the area on edge.
 
"My God. I'm just like… I can't even wrap my head around it. I can't even imagine that," Jo Ann Bullard said.
 
It didn't sit well with many people near the Lovejoy community after learning police found the burned body of Andre Tripps, 24, along a cut-through behind the Walden Landing Apartments and Thrasher Road.
 
"This is normally a quiet street. I just can't even imagine something like that," Bullard told Channel 2's Tom Jones.
 
Clayton County police said firefighters were working a brush fire in the wooded area when they discovered Tripps' body in the center of it.
 
"He was bound and he was also part of the fire," Clayton County police Maj. Joseph Woodall said.
 
Police said Tripps brother recently reported him missing and in danger in Brookhaven. Police don't know how he ended up all the way in Clayton County. 
 
"Our best guess is he had to have walked or been escorted down in there," Woodall said.
 
Officers also said Tripps was seen on surveillance video with several men in Brookhaven. Police aren't sure if he was kidnapped.
 
Detectives are working to solve this murder mystery. It won't happen fast enough for frightened neighbors who live near the scene.
 
"I want them caught. That's not good. That's not good at all. That's scary," Ang Bullard said.
 
Police can't find where Tripps had any connection to the Clayton County area. They are working several leads.
 
Contact the Clayton County police Tip Line at 770-477-3513 if you have any information in this case.

WSBTV