East Rome Murder And Mutilation Case To Move Forward After Mental Evaluation

A trial date has been set after a state psychiatrist determined that a man accused of killing and mutilating a Cumming man is mentally competent to stand trial.

Brandon Christopher Risner, 23, is accused of stabbing, disfiguring and disemboweling his former friend 21-year-old Aaron William Davis in November 2022. His trial is set to begin on June 24, according to a scheduling order filed by Floyd County Superior Court Chief Judge John “Jack” Niedrach.

Davis was a recent Brigham Young University-Idaho graduate, and the two men had a long history together. They went to high school together and attended The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Cumming.

On Nov. 11, 2022, Davis came to Rome to see Risner on his way to visit other friends in Alabama. When he didn’t arrive at his destination, the Davis family reached out to police. Rome police discovered his abandoned vehicle in a ditch behind the levee at Heritage Park and the subsequent investigation led police to Risner’s home at 1002 Collinwood Road.

Police began searching the area near Risner’s Collinwood address and found Davis’ body in the woods off Tumlin Drive. It was in a 6- to 8-foot hole left by a large uprooted oak tree and concealed under 6 to 12 inches of dirt, police reports stated. When contacted, Risner initially fled but later turned himself in to police.

Risner is charged with felony murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, concealing the death of another, abandonment of a dead body and theft by taking, as well as misdemeanor removal of body parts from the scene of a death, tampering with evidence and obstruction of an officer.

Two more murder cases in Floyd County are currently on hold pending mental evaluations. The process of conducting a mental evaluation can add months, and potentially a year or more, to the time before a case goes to trial.

One case is for a 31-year-old Armuchee man accused of killing his 82-year-old grandmother in late 2021 and keeping her body stored in a freezer until it was discovered by Floyd County police.

Robert Keith Tincher III is accused of forcing his grandmother, Doris Cumming, alive into plastic bags sometime in December 2021. He then dragged her through the residence and placed her in a large freezer, breaking several of her bones.

Police say Tincher kept Cumming’s body in a freezer in her home for a time and then moved the freezer to a nearby storage unit. Approximately four months later, that freezer was discovered by police.

Tincher was arrested in April 2022 on charges of malice murder, concealing the death of another, aggravated battery and felony murder.

Another case on hold pending a mental evaluation is for Anderous Mendrall Cunningham, a Rome man accused of shooting 50-year-old Johnny Napoleon Gibbs in the face outside 505 Calhoun Ave. on May 3, 2023.

Gibbs had been speaking with a man at the home about getting his car repaired. The man went inside to get a drink and told police, once inside, he heard a single gunshot. He then went outside, saw Gibbs lying in front of the home, bleeding from a head wound, and attempted to help him.

Police, Floyd County Sheriff’s Office deputies and EMTs arrived and attempted to aid Gibbs, who was bleeding profusely. While police were investigating the crime an SUV pulled up, driven by Cunningham’s stepfather. He told police that his stepson had been involved in the shooting and investigators took Cunningham in for questioning. He was initially charged with aggravated assault but later charged with murder after Gibbs died in the hospital.

The motive for the shooting is still unclear, but the men knew each other and there had been a disagreement between the two, according to a police report.