Youth pastor pleads guilty to wife's murder
Savannah Morning News
Coastal Empire | Local News
By: Bret Bell | Wednesday, October 18, 2006 at 12:30 am
Eric Brian Golden buried his wife in this shallow grave in Bryan County after murdering her Nov. 17, 2005. Golden pleaded guilty Tuesday. (Photo: Savannah Morning News)
Eric Brian Golden, the Savannah youth pastor who confessed to killing his wife and burying her body in a muddy, shallow grave, pleaded guilty to murder Tuesday.
The negotiated agreement reached with the Chatham County District Attorney's Office dropped a concealment of death charge in exchange for the admission to a charge of felony murder by aggravated battery in the slaying of DeeDee Marie Golden, 35.
Superior Court Chief Judge Perry Brannen Jr. handed down the only sentence available - life in prison.
The negotiated plea ends a saga that has rocked two close families and the Southside Assembly of God congregation to which both were closely tied.
Police say the couple, high school sweethearts married at age 18, had been experiencing problems when Golden attacked his wife in a rage at their Berwick Plantation home on the night of Nov. 17, 2005.
The year before, Golden had been arrested after offering an undercover detective $20 for oral sex at the Savannah Motor Lodge.
Police later found pornographic photos on his home computer.
"They had their good times and their bad times, like any other marriage. But he had this perversion with sex," said DeeDee's father, Robert McKie. "It wasn't good, and DeeDee was just trying to follow the way of the Bible."
McKie's daughter demanded that her husband attend counseling that Nov. 17 evening, and she talked about ending their marriage of 17 years.
Golden, 36, was concerned he would lose his job as youth minister at the Assembly of God, a Pentecostal church that requires its ministers to remain married.
Golden, a former U.S. Army sergeant who stood a foot taller than his wife, attacked and killed her, court records showed. An autopsy report revealed blunt force trauma to her neck, and signs of asphyxiation, as if he had choked her.
Police said Golden then drove his wife's body west on Ga. 204, about 500 feet over the Bryan County line onto Fort Stewart property.
He walked half a mile off the highway into a wooded area popular with hunters and buried the body in a 3-foot-deep hole amid wild boar carcasses.
Golden confessed to his brother-in-law three days later. He then drove himself to the Chatham County jail and handed a confession letter to deputies on his way in.
Golden hung his head during Tuesday's hearing, and he offered no words to his family or to members of his wife's family, who filled the courtroom.
"It was his intent in taking this plea agreement to accept responsibility for the crime, and to spare his family and the victim's family the agony of a protracted trial," said his attorney, W. Dow Bonds, in a prepared statement. "This plea of guilty was in conformity with Mr. Golden's wishes, and also provides closure to both families in this terrible tragedy."
McKie said the two families remain close - they hugged in court Tuesday - although he said the relationship is clearly strained. The couple's 16-year-old son lives with his father's sister.
The Southside Assembly of God has done significant soul-searching over the past year, McKie said. The church's pastor, the Rev. Jack Moon, did not return a telephone message seeking comment.
"When someone makes a wrong decision like this, it's like a tidal wave washes over everyone who knew them," McKie said. "We've all struggled."
One of DeeDee's sisters, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the victim's face, took the stand Tuesday and said death - a punishment not available in this case - was what Golden deserved.
Instead, he will be eligible for parole in 14 years, although life inmates serve 22 years on average in Georgia.
"I have forgiven him, but I haven't forgiven what he did," McKie said. "He has got to pay for what he did. And then he's going to have to meet his Maker."
