Local News

Police investigate death of man found in burning Athens home

WUGA | By Jeff Dantre

Published April 16, 2025 at 1:09 PM EDT

Yellow law enforcement tape isolating crime scene. Blurred view of city street, toned in red and blue police car lights

Athens-Clarke County Police are investigating the death of a man whose body was found at his burning home last week.

When officers arrived, the body of 62-year-old John Willcutts had already been pulled from the residence. Police are reviewing surveillance footage from nearby cameras.

The Athens-Clarke County Fire Department says the origin and cause of the fire remain unknown.

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Jeff Dantre

Jeff has delivered morning news at WUGA Radio for more than a decade. He was among a team at CNN that won a George Foster Peabody Award in 1991 for an educational product based on the fall of the Soviet Union. He also won an Edward R. Murrow Award from Radio Television Digital News Association in 2007 for producing a series for WSB Radio on financial scams. Jeff is a graduate of the Babcock Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University (MBA) and holds a BS in Business Administration from Campbell University, both in North Carolina.

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