WOODBINE, Ga. – Two men were sentenced to life in prison in early April after a jury found them guilty of murdering a 29-year-old man in St. Marys, Georgia in 2023, according to the District Attorney’s Office in Brunswick.
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On April 2, a Camden County jury convicted Frank Patrick Kennedy, 56, and Anthony Scott Mistretta, 29, of several charges including felony murder and kidnapping in the “brutal” torture and murder of 29-year-old John “Scooter” Mamph in a remote area of St. Marys, locally known as Gilligan’s Island, according to officials.
Kennedy and Mistretta are two of five people convicted in connection with Mamph’s murder.
On July 5, 2023, Kennedy and Mistretta beat and hogtied Mamph near his homeless encampment, investigators said. Then, they transported him to a nearby boat ramp where they put him in a boat and took him out on a lake. While he was still tied up, they weighed Mamph down with multiple weights and dumped him into the lake so he would drown, according to the DAO.
Mamph’s body was found the following day by a local who was jet-skiing with his family, officials said.
St. Marys police responded to recover the body and launched an investigation with the help of the Camden County Sheriff’s Office Special Operations dive team and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
According to officials, that same night, law enforcement began making arrests based on eyewitness statements.
Mistretta, Kennedy, 38-year-old Debra Leane Doughtery, 34-year-old Megan Leigh Robison, and 27-year-old Bernice Rose McGuire were arrested in connection with Mamph’s murder.
Following Mistretta and Kennedy’s convictions, a judge sentenced them to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Before Mistretta and Kennedy’s trial began, the other three people involved pleaded guilty to different felony charges.
Doughtery pleaded guilty to felony murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
McGuire pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and has yet to be sentenced.
Robison, who officials said lied to law enforcement about her knowledge of the incident, pleaded guilty to making a false statement and was sentenced to five years probation.
Tikeisha Parrish, a longtime family friend, told News4JAX back in June 2024 she had known Mamph since he was a child. She said he was the youngest of five children born to a single mother.
“He was just a young man, trying to figure out life after losing his mother, who was his entire world,” she said. “That’s who he was.”