PUTNAM COUNTY, Ga. - Two men have been charged with murder after a 19-year-old man was found shot to death along a creek, according to the sheriff's office.


Putnam County deputies said the body of Zachary Brandon Smith, 19, of Milledgeville, was found at 6:40 p.m. Friday along the banks of Rooty Creek, about eight miles south of Eatonton off Pea Ridge Road.

Investigators determined Smith had been shot multiple times in the chest with a rifle.

According to the sheriff's office, deputies identified and located a witness to the homicide. The witness identified 20-year-old Michael David Ludwick as the alleged shooter and his father, 38-year-old Joshua David Ludwick, as a party to the crime.


With assistance from the Morgan and Walton County sheriff's offices, authorities arrested both men at their homes in Madison at 10:45 p.m. that night.

Both men are being held in the Putnam County Jail and have been charged with murder.

The sheriff's office said the investigation remains ongoing.


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