By Joe Johnson
Two suspects have been charged with murder for the death of an Athens man whose body was discovered earlier this month by some abandoned railroad tracks.
Andre Carthens, 46, and Antion Donquese Parks, 31, were both charged with malice murder for allegedly killing 42-year-old Jarrard Pittard.
Pittard was an Athens resident who police said was homeless at the time his body was discovered on Dec. 3 along abandoned train tracks that are in an area adjacent to Lay Park off of Hoyt Street.
After an investigation by the Athens-Clarke County Police Department, Parks and Carthens were arrested Tuesday night.
They were taken into custody at a homeless camp off Newton Bridge Road.
Police have not said how Pittard was killed, but a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation said that the suspects beat him to death.
An object, possibly a stick or tree branch, was used in the deadly attack, according to the source.
Records indicate that at the time of their arrests both suspects were on probation for felony convictions in Clarke County Superior Court: Carthens for a July 2022 armed robbery in which the victim was stabbed; Parks in February of this year for possession of methamphetamine.
They are being detained without bail at the county jail.
Good work: POLICE.