Inside the car, they discovered a child in the backseat, lifeless, with an apparent gunshot wound. In the front seat was a man, also deceased from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A handgun was found resting on his lap. Authorities later identified the man as 37-year-old James Lee Mayo and the child as his nine-year-old daughter, Emily Grace Mayo.

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Both bodies were transported to the GBI Medical Examiner’s Office in Pooler for autopsies. But the investigation didn’t end with the forensics—it triggered a wave of grief, disbelief, and public mourning.