Two Men Arrested in Rabun County Murder Investigation

PRESS RELEASE – The GBI and the Rabun County Sheriff’s Office are conducting a murder investigation.  Keegan Cleve Phillips, age 23, of Otto, North Carolina, has been charged with murder.

Robert Lee Peppers, age 62, of Lula, Georgia has been charged with concealing a death and unlawful disposal of a body.

On Sunday, August 6, 2023, the GBI regional investigative office in Cleveland was requested by the Rabun County Sheriff’s Office to assist them in a murder investigation.

The Rabun County Sheriff’s Office received information that a man killed a person and disposed of the body in Rabun County, Georgia.  Based on the information received, agents and deputies found the body of the victim on Monday, August 7, 2023, in the Chattahoochee – Oconee National Forest.

Today, the GBI, the Rabun County Sheriff’s Office, the Banks County Sheriff’s Office, the Hall County Sheriff’s Office, the Appalachian Regional Drug Enforcement Office, and the Georgia State Patrol conducted an extensive search in the area of Gillsville Highway, Hall County, Georgia.

Police found  Phillips and arrested him without incident.  Phillips is being held at the Rabun County Detention Center.  Peppers is currently in custody in the Rabun County Detention Center as well.

The investigation is ongoing.  Once the case is done, it will be given to the Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.