COBB COUNTY, Ga. — James Bradshaw Clement has been sentenced in the death of Chase Massner, who had been missing for years before he his remains were found in 2017 behind a Cobb County home where Clement used to live.
Prosecutors announced Monday that Clement pleaded guilty to one count of concealing the death of another and one count of making a false statement.
He was sentenced to eight years in prison and seven years on probation, the Cobb district attorney’s office said in a news release.
Clement said he would turn himself into police after being charged, instead he went on the run.
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After a week, Clement was arrested Aug. 10, 2017 facedown in the rain-drenched parking lot of a shopping center on North Druid Hills Road. He was indicted 2½ months later.
After receiving a tip, authorities found his body buried in the backyard of a home in the 500 block of Farmbrook Trail.
He was identified by dental records.
Massner, who had been missing since 2014, served in the U.S. Army.
Though it isn’t clear if drugs had a role in his death, an autopsy found methamphetamine and morphine in his system, according to the Cobb County Medical Examiner’s office.
The report attributed the morphine in Massner’s system to the fact that he “had a known history of heroin abuse,” according to the report. “Morphine is the primary metabolite of heroin.”
Cox Media Group
