JAW GA News | Independent Investigative Report
By Rev. Joseph Allen Wolfe, Founder, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
October 11, 2026
Folks, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time reviewing documents provided to JAW GA News concerning the September 20, 2025 death of Steven Todd Jenkins in Tift County, Georgia. And after examining the Sheriff’s Office investigative reports, the medical examiner’s findings, historical booking records, and witness statements, there is one individual whose account deserves renewed attention.
His name is Tracy Samuel Hogan.
Now, I’m going to make something clear before we get into this investigation. I’m not here to declare somebody guilty of murder, and I’m certainly not going to manufacture evidence that doesn’t exist. But I’m also not going to pretend that a death investigation becomes untouchable simply because somebody in authority decided the case was closed.
That’s not how accountability works.
The evidence shows that Hogan was with Jenkins during important portions of the evening before Jenkins was found dead. It also shows that investigators recorded questions and inconsistencies concerning the timeline of events. Those questions deserve answers.
And this is exactly why JAW GA News exists.
THE HISTORY BEFORE SEPTEMBER 20, 2025
Let’s begin with the documented background.
On September 29, 2026, Tift County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer David Haire provided JAW GA News with 14 separate historical arrest and booking reports concerning Tracy Samuel Hogan.
Those records span from December 28, 2005, through August 19, 2025.
Twenty years of documented contacts with the Tift County jail system.
Now, understand something. Fourteen bookings do not automatically mean fourteen convictions. Some records involve holds for other jurisdictions, some involve arrests with no verified final disposition, and two felony charges from 2018 were later dismissed.
But the records are real, they were supplied by the Sheriff’s Office, and they deserve an accurate examination.
2005–2007: The earliest documented cases
The earliest Tift County booking report identifies a December 28, 2005 arrest involving a felony theft-by-conversion charge. Hogan was released on bond in January 2006. The report does not establish the final court outcome.
On March 16, 2007, Hogan was booked on a misdemeanor theft-by-deception charge and later released on bond.
Another booking followed on May 16, 2007, involving failure to appear. The report includes a court notation concerning 12 months of probation.
These records establish court and law-enforcement encounters during that period. They do not tell us the full story of Hogan’s life before 2005, nor do they establish convictions for every listed offense.
2012–2015: Additional detention and financial allegations
On August 3, 2012, Hogan was booked at Tift County Jail on a hold for Berrien County and transferred the following day.
On May 11, 2015, he was booked with allegations involving financial transaction card fraud and a parole violation.
The 2015 report notes that the parole warrant was withdrawn and that Hogan was released on bond on May 26. The final disposition of the financial-card allegation has not yet been established through the records reviewed.
And here’s why these details matter. When we’re examining someone’s history, we cannot simply count charges and pronounce a verdict. We need the actual outcome of each case.
That’s what we’re working to establish.
2018–2021: Drug-related cases and probation matters
The records become especially detailed in 2018.
Hogan was booked on October 18, 2018, on a misdemeanor charge involving possession of less than one ounce of marijuana.
He was booked again on December 11, 2018, concerning four drug-related counts, including allegations involving Schedule III and Schedule IV controlled substances, marijuana, and drugs not in their original container.
The booking records explicitly identify the Schedule III and Schedule IV felony charges as dismissed by the district attorney on June 3, 2020.
That fact matters and deserves to be reported just as clearly as the original charges.
Another booking occurred on March 14, 2019, involving failure to appear. The record indicates the bench warrant was dismissed.
On March 4, 2021, Hogan was booked on a misdemeanor probation violation. The report records a revocation-related court action and an eventual transfer to Ben Hill County authorities.
These are documented legal events. They are not proof of criminal conduct in the Jenkins death investigation.
2023–2025: More bookings leading up to Jenkins’s death
On May 18, 2023, Hogan was booked on allegations concerning driving with a suspended or revoked license and driving without a license on his person. The booking report records release after time served.
On August 16, 2023, another booking involved misdemeanor refund fraud of $500 or less. The available report does not establish a final conviction.
On October 4, 2024, Hogan was booked for a misdemeanor probation violation, with release recorded on October 17 after serving the documented period.
Then came 2025.
On May 30, Hogan was booked by Tifton authorities on a Coffee County hold. The Tift County report specifically noted no local charges. He was picked up by Coffee County that same day.
On August 19, he was booked again on a hold for the Coffee County Sheriff’s Office and transferred on August 20.
One month later, Steven Todd Jenkins was dead.
That timing is established. What is not established is whether either Coffee County matter had any relevance whatsoever to Jenkins’s death.
We have requested information from Coffee County to identify the underlying warrants, charges, and court outcomes. Until those facts are established, those bookings cannot responsibly be presented as evidence of involvement in this death.
THE MAN PRESENTED ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Our newsroom has also examined photographs, slogans, political messages, and graphics supplied from material attributed to Hogan’s social-media presence.
The material includes messages about respect, honor, brotherhood, firearms, patriotism, and cultural identity.
Some photographs show firearms. Others feature Confederate imagery, Three Percenters symbolism, and slogans concerning loyalty and dishonor.
One screenshot dated December 6, 2019, shows an account named Tracy Hogan sharing a lengthy statement criticizing immigrants and Muslims while emphasizing American cultural identity and Christianity.
The message was explicitly identified by its poster as copied from another source.
These materials help document the public image associated with the account, but let’s be clear about something. A slogan about honor doesn’t prove a person is honorable. A picture of a firearm doesn’t prove someone is violent. And political opinions, even offensive ones, are not evidence that somebody committed a crime.
What matters is how a person’s actual conduct compares with the facts.
And that’s where we return to September 2025.
SEPTEMBER 19, 2025: THE FINAL EVENING
According to the official investigative report, Hogan told Investigator M. Achberger that Steven Todd Jenkins came to his residence sometime around 7:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Hogan reportedly said they smoked marijuana before leaving together.
He then described traveling to several locations, including a restaurant, a convenience store where he played gaming machines, and additional stops before returning to his residence around midnight.
According to that account, Jenkins was driving during their travels.
Hogan reportedly stated that when they returned, he was exhausted, exited the vehicle, and went inside to sleep.
He said he did not know whether Jenkins left the property or remained in the Jeep.
But there is more to the story.
Investigators documented that Hogan initially indicated Jenkins had not used other drugs to his knowledge that night, apart from marijuana. Later in the interview, Hogan reportedly said he had seen Jenkins snort a line of an unidentified substance at one of the stores and believed it was fentanyl.
Hogan also told investigators that Jenkins appeared fine afterward.
Folks, that’s a detail worth examining.
What substance was actually observed? Which store did this supposedly happen at? Could anyone else verify the encounter? Was there surveillance footage? And did investigators establish the source of that information independently of Hogan’s statement?
The investigative report records the allegation. It does not establish that the substance Hogan claimed to have witnessed was actually fentanyl.
Those are two different things.
SEPTEMBER 20, 2025: THE DISCOVERY
At approximately 8:00 a.m., deputies responded to a death investigation involving Jenkins.
He was found inside the rear area of his white Jeep Cherokee at the property where Hogan was staying.
Deputy Justin Davis documented finding Jenkins facedown in the vehicle. He also described the positioning of Jenkins’s legs as appearing arranged and noted lividity on the right side of Jenkins’s face, which he described as facing upward.
Those observations are part of the official investigative report.
They do not, by themselves, prove that someone moved Jenkins after his death. Determining their significance requires proper forensic interpretation.
But what happened before emergency responders arrived?
According to the initial deputy’s written narrative, Hogan first stated that he had discovered the body approximately an hour before the 911 call. When questioned further, Hogan reportedly changed that estimate and said it had not been an hour.
Hogan also said he could not find a working phone and that a woman arriving at the property placed the emergency call.
That’s an important part of the timeline, folks.
We need to know when Jenkins was first discovered unresponsive, what attempts were made to help him, and exactly when emergency services were notified.
The original 911 recording and dispatch timestamps would be far more valuable than speculation.
And we have already contacted Tift County E-911 seeking clarification.
THE STATEMENT THAT DEMANDS AN EXPLANATION
There is another account in the investigative file that cannot simply be overlooked.
Investigator Achberger interviewed Jayde Averitt on September 20.
According to that interview, Averitt stated that Hogan made a comment suggesting Jenkins might already have been dead or unresponsive while they were driving around.
She also attributed to Hogan a statement suggesting Jenkins might have passed out while in the back of the vehicle.
Now, read that carefully.
This is a statement Averitt attributed to Hogan. It is not a recorded confession, and the supplied investigative file does not independently establish that Hogan actually knew Jenkins was dead during the drive.
But it creates a direct question that deserves to be resolved.
If Hogan told investigators he left Jenkins in the vehicle around midnight believing him capable of leaving, how does that account fit with the statement another witness attributed to him?
Was the alleged remark accurately remembered? Was it misunderstood? Was Hogan speculating after discovering the body, rather than describing something he knew the previous night?
These are not questions the public should answer by guessing. They are questions that require evidence.
I want to know whether investigators obtained a clear explanation from Hogan and whether the final case assessment addressed the issue.
THE WITNESSES AND THE 911 CALL
The investigation contains another matter requiring clarification.
A report attributed to an interview with Miranda Averitt describes her arriving at the property, discovering something was seriously wrong, checking Jenkins, and calling 911.
A separate interview records Jayde Averitt describing her own arrival and emergency call.
Those accounts may reflect a naming or reporting discrepancy, or there may be additional context not evident in the supplied file.
Either way, the actual caller’s identity and the verified call time should be straightforward matters to establish from dispatch records.
The same case file also documents a witness reporting that a person may have been seen near Jenkins’s vehicle around 2:00 a.m., although that witness was uncertain of the observation.
And another witness interview records concerns about whether Jenkins’s body might have been moved.
None of those statements establishes that movement occurred. But each is a documented lead that should be reconciled with the physical evidence.
The public deserves to know what was verified, what was ruled out, and what remained uncertain when the investigation was closed.
THE DAMAGED CELLPHONE
The Sheriff’s Office report documents that Jayde Averitt later provided investigators with Jenkins’s damaged Apple iPhone.
She reportedly said Hogan had given her the phone before she contacted 911.
The phone was photographed and entered into evidence under receipt number 17208.
That’s not a rumor. That’s in the investigative documentation.
Was the phone examined for communications? Were its location records or timestamps recoverable? Did investigators compare any recoverable information with the witness accounts?
We have asked.
And until those answers are provided, we cannot claim the phone was ignored, examined, or deliberately withheld from forensic analysis.
What we can say is that its documented handling raises questions that can be answered with evidence records.
THE MEDICAL EXAMINER’S FINDINGS
The GBI Medical Examiner’s Office performed a limited autopsy on September 23, 2025.
The examination documented two abrasions around Jenkins’s left eye and a contusion measuring approximately six by five centimeters on his right lower abdomen.
Toxicology established the presence of fentanyl, alprazolam, ethanol, and methamphetamine.
The medical examiner certified the cause of death as the toxic effects of those substances and the manner of death as accidental.
Those are the official findings.
But another discrepancy appears in the medical examiner’s report.
It describes Jenkins as having been found unresponsive in his residence.
The Sheriff’s Office scene reports describe Jenkins being discovered inside a Jeep at Hogan’s property.
That is a factual difference between official documents.
Was incorrect location information provided to the medical examiner? Was the location abbreviated inaccurately in the final report? And did the medical examiner receive a complete and accurate account of the body’s discovery and the relevant witness statements?
The reason matters because forensic determinations incorporate medical findings and investigative context.
There is also documentation of two plastic bags containing a white powdery substance among evidence retained or submitted at the GBI.
Meanwhile, a separate Sheriff’s Office search narrative reported finding no contraband inside the Jeep.
Those statements are not necessarily contradictory. The bags could have been recovered somewhere other than the vehicle.
But we need to know exactly where they came from, who collected them, and whether testing identified their contents.
That’s why JAW GA News has contacted both Tift County authorities and the GBI.
THE AFTERMATH: QUESTIONS ABOUT MISSING PROPERTY
The matter did not end with the medical examiner’s findings.
The investigative records document later concerns from people connected to Jenkins about belongings they believed were missing from his vehicle.
A separate 2026 report records a complaint involving alleged missing property.
A complaint is not proof of theft, and the available report does not establish that Hogan took any property.
However, determining what was present during the initial vehicle inventory, what was released, and whether anything was subsequently reported missing remains a legitimate part of examining the complete case history.
THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE CLOSED THE CASE
The Tift County Sheriff’s Office told JAW GA News that the Jenkins death investigation was closed.
Its September 24, 2026 response identified the accidental toxicological death determination and confirmed that nobody had been arrested or charged in connection with Jenkins’s death.
The GBI subsequently confirmed that it had not been requested to conduct a criminal investigation. Its involvement was through the Medical Examiner’s Office.
After additional questions were submitted, Public Information Officer David Haire reported that Investigator Achberger was no longer employed by the Sheriff’s Office and that the agency had no further comments or information concerning the case.
That’s where we have a problem with public accountability.
Closing a case and explaining the investigative findings are not necessarily the same thing.
The medical examiner’s determination can explain the physiological cause of death. But the questions concerning witness timelines, the identity of the emergency caller, the handling of the cellphone, and the origin of particular physical evidence still deserve clear answers.
If investigators resolved those matters, then explain how.
If documents exist supporting those findings, identify them.
And if some questions were never conclusively answered, the public should not be given the impression that every detail was established beyond dispute.
TRACY HOGAN: THE QUESTIONS STILL STANDING
Mr. Hogan, your account is relevant because the investigative records place you with Jenkins during important portions of his final evening.
According to those records, you described traveling with him, returning to your property, going inside, and discovering him unresponsive the following morning.
Another witness attributed to you a statement raising the possibility that Jenkins might already have been unconscious or deceased while the vehicle was in motion.
You also reportedly described seeing Jenkins consume an unidentified substance that you believed was fentanyl.
These accounts deserve direct clarification.
When exactly did you last observe Jenkins conscious and responsive?
Who drove the Jeep during every portion of the evening?
What did you mean, if you made the statement attributed to you, about Jenkins possibly being dead while the vehicle was being driven?
When did you first realize something was seriously wrong?
And what happened between that discovery and the 911 call?
You are entitled to answer these questions, dispute statements attributed to you, provide records that support your account, or decline to comment.
But JAW GA News will continue examining the evidence regardless.
That is not harassment. That is responsible investigative journalism concerning a death that involved documented witness statements and unresolved questions.
ISAIAH 10 AND THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THOSE IN AUTHORITY
There is a reason I have repeatedly referenced Isaiah 10:1–5 throughout our work at JAW GA News.
That passage condemns unjust decrees, the denial of rights, and those who use authority to deprive vulnerable people of justice.
I do not interpret that as permission to accuse somebody without proof.
I interpret it as a responsibility to question systems of authority when the people affected deserve answers.
That responsibility applies to the institutions investigating a death, to the individuals providing information, and to our own newsroom.
If we demand honesty from government officials, we had better be prepared to meet that same standard ourselves.
And if we demand accountability from witnesses, we had better distinguish what they actually said from what other people claim they said.
That’s the point, folks.
Accountability is supposed to be based on the truth, not on which side somebody happens to favor.
THE INVESTIGATION CONTINUES
JAW GA News has now contacted the Tift County Sheriff’s Office, Tift County E-911, Coffee County authorities, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and county officials concerning outstanding questions in this case.
The latest inquiries concern Hogan’s two 2025 Coffee County custody holds, emergency-call timing, Jenkins’s cellphone, and the white-powder evidence identified in the medical examiner’s report.
We will examine the responses and report what the documents establish.
We also intend to give Tracy Samuel Hogan a fair opportunity to respond to the specific statements attributed to him.
And let me close with this.
Steven Todd Jenkins is not a case number to be filed away and forgotten. He was a human being. His family deserves accurate information about what happened during his final hours.
Tracy Samuel Hogan is not entitled to be declared guilty based on his old arrests, his political views, or photographs circulating online. But neither should his reported statements be shielded from legitimate examination simply because the case was closed.
The Sheriff’s Office is not above questions.
The medical examiner’s findings are not beyond scientific clarification.
And JAW GA News is not going to substitute speculation for investigation.
We’re going to keep following the records, challenging explanations that don’t reconcile with those records, and demanding answers from the public agencies entrusted with investigating deaths.
Because the truth doesn’t become less important when an investigation is marked closed.
And accountability doesn’t end with a press release.
JAW GA News.
People. Facts. Accountability.
A STRONGER GEORGIA.
EDITORIAL RECORD NOTE: This report is based on Tift County Sheriff’s Office investigative case file 2025-09-135067, fourteen Tift County booking-history reports concerning Tracy Samuel Hogan, the four-page GBI Medical Examiner report, supplied social-media materials, and agency correspondence dated September–October 2026. Booking records do not establish convictions unless corroborated by court dispositions. Hogan has not been charged with causing Jenkins’s death, which remains officially classified as accidental. No interview response from Hogan has yet been verified for this article.
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