While a conviction in a murder trial is supposed to bring some semblance of finality to a tragic event, in the case of Jim Lynn, it has raised even more questions.
After last week’s verdict in the murder trial of a Winder woman, it seems there are more answers to come about what the defendant has attempted to cover up in his life. After three full days of testimony and a little more than an hour of deliberation, a Barrow County jury convicted him of murdering his wife and the mother of his children. Jim Lynn is now sentenced to serve the rest of his life somewhere behind bars without the possibility of parole for those actions.
Is justice served? We can make the argument that he received the harshest sentence possible for this case, but sadly, that will never come close to suffice for the ones who are missing a daughter, a mother, a sister, an aunt or a friend.
As one of the state prosecutors put it, Tonya Faye Royster Lynn never had a voice when arguing her own case. She was unable to testify to what really happened the night before she was reported missing or against the accusations that were airily made against her by her own husband, who apologized on the witness stand for his dishonesty when initially confessing to police, at an attempt to narrowly escape the harshest sentence possible. During the trial, jurors would hear the defendant over audio recording confess to police about what really went on that night. That she said something, then he said something else and then, he snapped. And then, after days of unimaginable worry and searching on behalf of a community missing a daughter, a mother, a friend, which turned up nothing, he finally led police to her body, which had been dumped in a well off her parents’ property.
Those who attended the trial, including jury selection, saw emotionally charged account after account of the reconstruction of what really happened. As those testifying related these accounts, I watched their impact on those in attendance. With few exceptions, the witness dialogues were listened to intently and many words were punctuated with the reaction of pain and anguish from many all over the room. Witness after witness pointed to Jim Lynn as the one who brutally murdered his wife and then tried to cover it up.
An eye for an eye does not fit here. It can’t fit, because it doesn’t end with this trial. It begins with it. The family of the defendant’s first wife, whose death while pregnant was ruled a suicide by a gunshot wound to her head in the southwest Georgia community of Metter back in 1990, listened intently to the horrific accounts of this latter incident. It could offer answers into the truth of the loss of their own family member.
Since Jim Lynn was charged with Tonya Lynn’s murder, questions surrounding his first wife’s death led the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to reopen her case.
The mother and family of that woman who attended the court proceedings leading up to Tonya Royster Lynn’s trial, now anxiously await their turn for some form of justice. That mother released a statement to media following last week’s verdict, relating to the reopened investigation into her daughter’s death.
The handwritten statement reads: “I am Bobbi Johnson Mosely. I am the mother of Julie Johnson Lynn. Julie, along with her unborn son, died a little more than 22 years ago from a gunshot wound to the head. It was ruled a suicide. I am very happy and hopeful now that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has reopened my daughter’s case. I am, however, very saddened by the circumstances that caused this reopening, that being the brutal death of another young woman, Tonya Royster Lynn. Now that justice has been served for Tonya, (if there can be such), I’m anxious to see justice for Julie. I’m highly encouraged by the superb work that was done in Tonya’s case. I’m very pleased that law enforcement has seen the error of the past investigation and are willing to work diligently on getting the truth about Julie’s death. I am hopeful they will keep a very high priority and I ask that you, the media, join me in seeing that justice is finally attained for Julie and her baby. I plan to keep very close communications with law enforcement. I pray that shortly I can excitedly announce that finally justice has been reached for Julie and my unborn grandson. I so much desire the peace and closure that can come from that.”
More than 20 years later after the reported suicide of his first wife, Jim Lynn is no longer a free man. He is a man convicted of Tonya Lynn’s murder, who admitted in court to covering it up, who admitted he was sorry for his actions — after being pressured about the days, the hours and the minutes that he prolonged her family from knowing the truth about what happened to her.
In the case of Julie Johnson Lynn, some believe the details of her death simply do not add up. Community members of Metter have indicated that they questioned, even 20 years ago, that Julie Johnson Lynn killed herself. Authorities have indicated that is rare for a woman to kill herself with a gunshot wound to the head. It certainly seems like there is more truth to uncover.
In the light of the tragedy of the loss of Tonya Lynn, Jim Lynn has now lost his rights. Hopefully, the pressure will be placed upon him to admit what really happened to Julie Johnson Lynn, and justice and peace and closure for her family will come as well.
Katie Cofer is a reporter for the Barrow Journal. You can contact her at katie@barrowjournal.com.
Would like to agee with anon on June 23. Very well written.Hope the case remains open and the truth will be known in the death of his first wife.
As a friend of Tonya's, I want to thank you for your honest and accurate articles. This article in particular is gripping and well-written. Good Job!