GBI Arrests Chattanooga Man in Connection with a Murder in Walker County

WALKER COUNTY, Ga. – On Friday, March 21, 2025, the GBI’s Investigative Office in Calhoun, along with the Walker County Sheriff’s Office, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the United States Federal Probation Office, and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, arrested and charged Nicholas Antiono Cheaton, age 41, of Chattanooga, TN, with Murder in connection to the death of William Oliver Jones, age 39, of Chickamauga, GA.

On Friday, March 14, 2025, Jones was found dead at his home located in the 8000 block of West Highway 136 in Chickamauga, GA.

Cheaton was booked into the Hamilton County Jail and Detention Center and is awaiting extradition.

Jones’ body was taken to the GBI Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy. The results are not complete at this time.

This investigation is active and ongoing. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Walker County Sheriff’s Office at 706-638-1909. Anonymous tips can also be submitted by calling 1-800-597-TIPS (8477), online at https://gbi.georgia.gov/submit-tips-online, or by downloading the See Something, Send Something mobile app.

Once the investigation is complete, the case file will be given to the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for review.