A Durango man died last week northeast of Atlanta, where he spent almost two weeks in an intensive care unit after law enforcement said he was beaten by a woman more than 20 years his senior.
James Patrick Pritchard Jr., 29, died May 22 after Jackson County sheriff’s deputies found him beaten, bruised and bloodied in a bathtub in a neighborhood home in Braselton, Georgia, a suburb about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta. Law enforcement arrested Monique Pinckney, 52, accusing her of beating Pritchard with an object and trying to kill him, according to arresting documents.
Pinckney was indicted by a grand jury for attempted murder and an additional warrant has been issued by a judge for murder charges, said Jackson County District Attorney Brad Smith. If indicted by a grand jury, which meets just four times a year in Georgia, Pinckney faces penalties of anywhere from life in prison with a chance for parole to the death penalty, Smith said.
The man’s father, James Patrick Pritchard Sr., also of Durango, did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment, including why and when his son traveled to Georgia.
The Coroner’s Office in Jackson County, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jackson County sheriff’s deputies found Pritchard just after midnight May 9 after receiving a call about a man unconscious in a bathtub and having difficulty breathing, according to arresting documents. Pinckney made the call, sheriff’s deputies said.
Pinckney and Pritchard met each other on a gaming website, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Law enforcement had been to the home previously on May 8 for a report of a dispute but didn’t make contact with anyone inside the house, according to arresting documents. When a sheriff’s deputy arrived just after midnight on the second contact, Pinckney walked out and said “it’s my fault” and “I hit him,” arresting documents show. She told the deputy she attacked the man before law enforcement tried to make contact May 8.
“(Pinckney) expressed that she didn’t come to the door earlier because she was scared,” a sheriff’s deputy wrote in arresting documents. “(Pinckney) stated ‘you need to arrest me,’ I asked where he was, (Pinckney) said ‘he’s in the bathtub in the house’, I asked how he got there, and she said ‘I put him there.’”
The sheriff’s deputy detained Pinckney and entered the home, where he found a trail of blood leading to a bathroom with a light on. In the room, he saw who would later be identified as Pritchard Jr. with blood trickling from a bandage on his right cheek and “dark bruises all over his body from head to toe,” a sheriff’s deputy wrote.
A memorial service for Pritchard Jr. is scheduled from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 1, at 10434 East Animas Road (County Road 250), according to a Facebook post from Pritchard Sr.
bhauff@durangoherald.com