Shocking details of Winterville man’s murder revealed

By Joe Johnson

David J. Stewart was found slain last February in woods behind his house on Double Bridges Road in Winterville.

Authorities said at the time that the 69-year-old widower had suffered a violent death, but it was only last month that the shocking details of just how brutal his murder was were made public through a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent’s affidavit that was filed in Superior Court.

The agent stated that Stuart’s naked body had been covered with brush by the killer and his hands were zip-tied behind his back with an electrical cord around his neck.

His face was unrecognizable and he had to be positively identified through medical and dental records.

The medical examiner’s office determined the cause and death to have been blunt force trauma to the head and face.

The murder suspect was identified as Michael Thomas Dusch from North Carolina who Stuart possibly met through the Grindr social media app.

Stuart had been living alone since the 2021 death of his longtime partner, Joseph Brassfield, and the GBI agent states in his affidavit that Stuart had advertised as a host on an Airbnb-type website for gay men.

Stuart’s house

Michael Thomas Dusch

Dusch was arrested a month after the murder after the stolen RV he was driving was stopped by police in Texas. At the time he was wanted in North Carolina for child pornography and other crimes.

An Oglethorpe County grand jury in May returned an indictment charging Dusch with murder, aggravated assault , inflicting pain on an elderly victim, false imprisonment, concealing Stewart’s death, financial identity fraud, and financial transaction card theft.

A trial date has not been announced.

Dusch appears to be a serial killer.

Shortly after Stewart’s murder, Dusch allegedly struck again in Logan County, Arkansas, where 84-year-old William Harris was found dead in his home, after having been deceased for about a week.

Harris suffered a fatal crossbow-bolt wound. Like Stewart, Harris lived alone and had no known connection to Dusch. Investigators allege that Dusch stole firearms, financial documents, and Harris’s vehicle before attempting to cash a forged check from Harris’s account at a local bank, using Stewart’s stolen passport as identification.

When questioned by bank staff, Dusch fled. Arkansas authorities have also charged him with murder.