Wife of murdered security officer and her lover found guilty in his murder
Buford GA April 8 2019
Nearly a year and a half after a father of three was gunned down outside his Buford home in November 2017, his wife and her lover have been convicted of murder.
On Friday, a Gwinnett County jury found 23-year-old Tia Young, the wife of George Young, a security guard who was killed as he was returning from work on Nov. 16, guilty of felony murder, aggravated assault and two criminal attempts to tamper with evidence, multiple news outlets reported.
Her lover, Harvey “Tim” Lee, 39, a family friend who lived with the couple, was convicted of malice murder, felony murder and aggravated assault.
The trial for Lee and Tia Young began on March 28 — almost exactly a year after the two were charged in George Young’s death.
According to previous reports by the Daily Post, George Young, who was 43 at the time of his death, was returning home from a security job at Lenox Square in Atlanta when he was shot. He was on his front porch preparing to enter the home.
“Several family members from inside the home heard the gunshots and went outside to investigate the source,” Gwinnett County Police Department spokeswoman Cpl. Michele Pihera said at the time. “That’s when they found the victim on the porch.”
Family members tried to render aid, though they were unsuccessful, police said.
Tia Young told reporters following the shooting that she “heard two loud gunshots” that she “at first thought (were) gunshots and (then) thought maybe firecrackers.”
Arrest warrants obtained last year by the Daily Post indicated that Tia Young knew what the noises were, though — something prosecutors convinced the jury of during Lee and Tia Young’s weeklong trial.
Gwinnett police said last year that investigators believed the murder was financially motivated due to a $1 million life insurance policy George Young had.
“Early on, the detective found evidence to suggest that Tia and Tim Lee were involved in an intimate relationship,” Pihera said. “Though Tia originally claimed that Tim was a ‘cousin’ or ‘brother’ type of family member, there is nothing to suggest that they are related.”
Pihera said that the Youngs and Lee, who are all originally from South Carolina, knew each other from early adulthood.
When Lee become unemployed, Pihera said, George Young invited him to live in Buford with him and his family. She said George Young also hired Lee to work with him at a security company.
Detectives in the case first became suspicious of Tia Young and Lee when they interviewed them about the murder, Pihera said.
“When the detective began to interview Tia and Tim about the night of the homicide and their history together, he found inconsistencies in their stories,” she said.
Lee and Tia Young will be sentenced Thursday.
Gwinnett Daily
