Local police said the suspect “confessed” to killing the 17 year old, who went missing after leaving his girlfriend’s house on October 16, 2011
Nearly a decade and a half after 17-year-old Blake Chappell was found dead in Georgia, police announced they’ve finally made an arrest in connection with the teenager’s murder.
The Newnan Police Department in Newnan, Ga., announced Friday that Scotty Elliot Smith allegedly “confessed” to killing Chappell, who disappeared while he walked from his girlfriend’s house to another friend’s house following his high school homecoming dance on Oct. 16, 2011.
“While an arrest has occurred, this is still an ongoing investigation,” police reiterated in a news release last week.
Smith, 38, was charged with “felony murder, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, concealing the death of another, and tampering with evidence,” according to police. He is currently being held in the Coweta County Jail, the Newnan Police Department said.
Georgia state inmate records reviewed by PEOPLE show Smith was sentenced to prison in August 2018 for a handful of charges, including criminal damage and criminal damage to government property. He was released from prison in July 2020.
Newnan Police said Smith “was not previously investigated” in connection with Chappell’s murder but a “new lead” led investigators to look into him. “During the investigation into this new lead, the NPD detectives corroborated facts of the case, as related to Smith,” police said. “In his multiple interviews with detectives, Scotty Smith confessed to the murder of Blake Tyler Chappell.”
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Chappell was found dead from a single gunshot wound, laying face down in a creek wearing only his underwear, on Dec. 19, 2011, according to The Newnan Times-Herald and local 11 Alive. The Times-Herald reported that the teenager’s last text message was sent to his girlfriend around 5:30 a.m. complaining about the cold weather as he made the roughly three-mile walk between her house and his friend’s house.
Detectives initially investigated Chappell’s disappearance as a runaway missing persons case before Chappell’s body was discovered.
Local Fox 5 reported that police received an anonymous tip written in a letter to investigators in 2023. Police pleaded publicly at the time for the letter writer to come forward with more information. It’s unclear whether the information in the anonymous letter connected detectives to Smith.
“This arrest is the result of countless hours of dedication by the Newnan Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division, as well as the direct, professional assistance of the Coweta County DA’s Investigators,” police said in a statement alongside last Friday’s news release. “We thank the community for the continued support and cooperation throughout this lengthy process. The commitment of our partners and the community’s trust has been vital in the pursuit of justice.”
