Tom Durden, Georgia DA who ordered takeover of stalled Ahmaud Arbery investigation, dies at 66

By RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — The longtime Georgia prosecutor who called in state investigators to build a case against the men who killed Ahmaud Arbery has died. Tom Durden served as district attorney for southeast Georgia’s Atlantic Judicial Circuit for 24 years before stepping down last year. The DA’s office said in a Facebook post that Durden died Thursday. In 2020, Durden briefly oversaw the investigation into Arbery’s killing. The case languished without charges before Durden called in help from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which arrested the three men later convicted of Arbery’s murder. In 1998, Durden successfully prosecuted four family members and a friend in the killing of Thurmon Martin, a case that would become known as Georgia’s infamous “tomato patch” murder.