Toccoa Man Charged with Stabbing of Senior Couple

A Toccoa man has been charged with the stabbing of two people in Stephens County.

According to GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles, GBI agents have arrested 39-year-old Christopher Vaughn of Toccoa. He’s charged with one count of murder and two counts of aggravated assault.

It happened Thursday morning at a home on Bart Holcomb Road in Stephens County.

According to the GBI, on Thursday, December 28, at around 7:40 a.m., the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office responded to a person stabbed call. When deputies arrived, they found William James Vaughn, age 63, of Toccoa, dead in his home. The deputies cleared the home and found Christopher Vaughn locked inside a room.

Another victim, Janet Lynn Vaughn, age 62, of Toccoa, was located at a home nearby and airlifted to a nearby hospital for treatment of substantial injuries.

The Stephen’s County Sheriff’s Office then requested the GBI to assist them with the investigation.

Earlier in the day, at around 6 a.m., deputies had responded to a verbal domestic call at the same home, before the person stabbed call.

According to Franklin County School Superintendent Melanie Burton-Brown, Janet Vaughn retired in May 2021 from the Franklin County School System where she had been an elementary school teacher for 27 years.

She currently works as a substitute teacher and Burton-Brown tells WLHR News she often works as a substitute in Franklin County elementary schools.

Christopher Vaughn is being held in the Stephens County Jail.

Miles said that upon completion of the GBI investigation, the case will be turned over to the Mountain Judicial Circuit for prosecution.