Suspect in 2023 Newton County homicide found in DeKalb jail

The final suspect charged in a 2023 homicide in Newton County was located in the DeKalb County Jail last month, more than a year after three others were arrested in the same case, officials announced Monday.

Julius Dennis, 21, of Conyers, was booked into the Newton jail Thursday after spending nearly 14 months incarcerated in DeKalb, online records show. In a statement, the Newton sheriff’s office said Dennis was charged in the killing of 20-year-old Braxton Singleton in April of last year.

The first murder suspect, 21-year-old Amin Ya-Sin, was identified soon after deputies responded to the shooting, according to the sheriff’s office. He was arrested near the end of May 2023.

Two other suspects, 18-year-old Eva Simmons and 46-year-old Kristiana Simmons, were also arrested at that time on charges of tampering with evidence, the sheriff’s office said. Officials have not provided further details about their alleged roles in the incident.

The shooting took place in the afternoon of April 3, 2023, at the Wildcat Creek Estates development near Ga. 162, according to the sheriff’s office. A man, whose identity was not disclosed, arrived at Piedmont Newton Hospital with several gunshot wounds, leading deputies to respond to the scene of the incident. They found Singleton dead inside an SUV on Woods Creek Court, per the incident report.

A sheriff’s office spokeswoman did not say if Ya-Sin was the man taken to Piedmont Newton, and she did not respond to requests for clarification.

Hours later, another gunshot victim, who was identified as Dennis, showed up at the Gwinnett County Medical Center. As a patient, he was not immediately connected to the shooting, but investigators later identified him as the second murder suspect.

Newton officials were still searching for Dennis in late May 2023 when they announced Ya-Sin’s arrest, but Dennis had already been arrested on unrelated charges. He was booked into the DeKalb jail April 30, 2023, on counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and conspiracy to commit a felony.

Dennis was not granted bond on those charges and remained in the DeKalb jail for more than a year before he was transferred to Newton to face counts of murder, aggravated assault and other drug- and gun-related offenses, according to jail records.

Both Dennis and Ya-Sin remain in the Newton jail without bond, online records show.

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