Professor Commits Suicide after Killing Three Others

By Sarah Harper

Published on May 15, 2009

On Saturday, police found the body of George Zinkhan, a University of Georgia professor wanted for murdering three victims. They found his body in a Clarke County cemetery; apparently he dug his own grave and then shot himself in the head.

Police report that Zinkhan had been on the run since April 25, when he murdered three victims - Marie Bruce, 47 (his wife), and Thomas Tanner, 40 and Ben Teague, 63 (colleagues) - at a picnic hosted by a local theatre group. At the picnic, while his children were waiting in the car, he had a brief row with his wife and then shot and killed her and the other victims. Zinkhan then fled, left the children with a neighbor, and evaded police. Police found his vehicle approximately one mile from the cemetery about a week before they discovered his body.

Emerging details suggest the murders were premeditated. In Zinkhan's vehicle, police found MapQuest directions to the residence of another colleague who did not attend the picnic; they suspect she was on Zinkhan's hit list. On May 2, Zinkhan purchased airline tickets to the Netherlands, in an alleged attempt to flee the country. He never arrived at the airport.

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