Royston Stolen Car Investigation Continues

By MJ Kneiser, WLHR Radio, Lavonia
The Royston Police Department continues its search for the suspects who stole two cars from Tri-County Chevrolet.

A 1956 classic Chevy Bel-Air and a 2015 Dodge Challenger were stolen from Tri-County over the New Year’s weekend.

Royston investigators, with the help of the Hart County Sheriff’s Office, located the cars late last week hidden in an abandoned barn near the Elbert County line.

Since then, Royston Police Chief Donnie Boleman said he has been working with the GBI to obtain evidence from the scene that he hopes will lead to an arrest of the suspects.

“This case is still evolving,” Boleman said. “We’re still working with what evidence we have at this point. The GBI director will be coming up and utilize some of their resources to help us to go through the forensics on the cars themselves. We have a lot of evidence to go through and we’re hopeful we can have the suspects in this case locked up soon.”

Originally, the Bel-Air had been completely restored and was painted a gloss black with chrome finishes and the Challenger was a factory orange color with a wide black racing stripe down the front hood.

However, Boleman said when the cars were found, the suspects were in the process of changing them.

“The one new model Challenger was being painted. It was changed from orange to black. The older model Bel-Air was just being taken apart to be moved or sold,” Boleman said. “That will give us more chances for evidence. Tha’s why we are utilizing the GBI to help us go through and process all of those pieces and hopefully directly link them to our suspects.”

Boleman said both cars had also had their VIN numbers removed, which he said is a separate crime in and of itself.