GBI Charges Four for 2020 Murder

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The Georgia Bureau of Investigation recently pressed charges against four individuals suspected of shooting a man at a Circle K convenience store in 2020.

At 2 a.m. on November 21, 2020, Vidalia Police officers responded to a call reporting that continued from page

someone had been shot at the Circle K, located at 101 North Street East in Vidalia. Upon arriving, officers found a man – later identified as Treyvious Moliere Jean Baptiste, 29, of Fort Pierce, Florida – sitting in a vehicle, who had died at the scene from a gunshot injury.

Since 2020, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Vidalia Police Department have worked together to probe the case in hopes of bringing justice and closure for Baptiste and his loved ones.

On Monday, March 16, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced that four individuals – Wendell Simpson, 38, of Vidalia; Lynn Cherry, 40, of Collins; Marqese Stokes, 31, of Fort Pierce, Florida; and Albert Jones Jr., 36, of Fort Pierce, Florida – had been arrested on various charges for their connection to the murder. Simpson is charged with malice murder, felony murder, and aggravated assault, while Cherry, Stokes, and Jones are each charged with party to the crime of malice murder and felony murder.

Simpson was arrested on July 16, 2025, while Cherry was arrested two days later on July 18, 2025. Stokes was taken into custody on August 12, 2025, and Jones has been in custody of the Florida Department of Corrections since May 24, 2023. Cherry is out on bond, but Simpson and Stokes remain in custody at the Toombs County Detention Center.

The investigation is still active. Anyone with information about this investigation is asked to contact the GBI Regional Investigative Office in Eastman at (478) 374-6988. Anonymous tips may also be submitted by calling 1 (800) 597-TIPS (8477), online on the GBI website, or through the See Something, Say Something mobile app.

After the investigation is completed, the case will be turned over to the Middle Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.

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