I-TEAM: Death of a politician – Tyrique Robinson mystery deepens

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Tyrique Robinson died a week after voters elected him to the Richmond County Board of Education.

Authorities ruled his death as a suicide and closed the case one year ago.

Now two others are dead – the lead investigator on the case and the mother of Tyrique’s son.

Those deaths led Senior Investigative Reporter Liz Owens back to the case file and the questions surrounding it.

Audio recording:

911: “Do you need police, fire or ambulance? ”

Tekai Gowdy: “Anybody. My brother committed suicide.”

Gowdy found his older brother’s body in bed.  Robinson’s ankles were crossed and he was nude with a blanket tucked around him.

The pillow next to his body was missing a pillowcase. Near his body were two cellphones, AirPods, a knife and a 9 mm Taurus pistol.

EARLIER IN THIS INVESTIGATION:

Investigator Brian Maneke was nearby when he heard the call.

Manecke: “Which hand did the brother say the gun was in?”

Deputy: “He says it was just lying on his chest.”

Terrance Howard was the crime scene technician on the case.  He wrote that Robinson’s right arm was in an upright position with his right elbow on the bed and right wrist bent.

The veteran paramedic at the scene commented about the oddity of it.

Gold Cross paramedic: “It’s weird how is hand is up frozen like that.”

An autopsy report does not show gunpowder residue on Robinson’s hand.

The tech snapped photos at the scene. A bottle of bleach on the counter. A bathtub full of discolored water.  An indention in the headboard and a bullet in the nearby couch.

Manecke noticed several cameras and a security system.

Bodycam audio:

“That door was open at 9:30 last night.  He was in Atlanta last night.  Mama says she talks to her sons on the phone – him and the other one down there – she checks his phone, and his phone showed him in Perry, Georgia.”

“Suspicious?”

“Brother says he turned it off.”

Manecke was new to the Criminal Investigation Division, promoted to investigator, child sex crimes, less than a year earlier. But the rookie detective suspected not everything was as it seemed.

Bodycam audio:

“So, am I doing my report as an unattended death? Or suicide?”

“All evidence points towards it.”

But the paper trail turned into a cold trail back at the 400 Building of the apartment complex. A crime scene document states that the serial number on the gun is obliterated, but a photo – although blurry – shows a serial number on it.

The tech does record a serial number he finds on a gun box, which “he’s informed there is no record on.”

The gun was not returned to the family because the attempt at recovering the serial number on the gun itself was “unsuccessful.”

Manecke also reached a dead end back at headquarters.

He stated in his report that he received an email from Comcast legal department stating that the company didn’t have an account with the listed address or security camera system for Robinson.

The I-TEAM wanted to confirm there was no account and requested the email from Comcast.  The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office responded it had been deleted and could not be recovered.

MORE FROM THE I-TEAM:

All this happened after a narrative immediately emerged after Robinson won a seat on the Richmond County Board of Education.

His mentor/business partner accused him of stealing a quarter of a million dollars from her business.

She contacted the I-TEAM but never went to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office with it.

“I won’t let anyone back me down or let these allegations back me down,” Robinson said at the time. “It’s just time to stand firm and show I am innocent in this.”

The day after he publicly denied the allegations on radio’s Austin Rhodes Show, he died.

He died before the I-TEAM learned his mentor’s ex-boyfriend appeared to offer Robinson a bribe after assaulting him in Cherokee, North Carolina.

He died before the I-TEAM learned of his mentor’s professional relationship with Randy Frails, attorney for the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office. He told the I-TEAM his relationship between Robinson and the sheriff’s office was not a conflict of interest.

Recording:

Deputy: “You’re talking like it’s a homicide.”

Manecke: “We will investigate like it until we find out otherwise.”

The manner of death was ruled a suicide.

A year later, there was another suicide, this time, it was Manecke.

He, too, died a few days after allegations surfaced about him.

The narrative: He used a fake name to share back-to-school photos of two girls on a pedophilia-friendly Facebook page.

The parents of the girls went public after they said a Richmond County deputy sent them screenshots. We still do not know the name of the deputy who gave them the information.

Manecke died before anyone proved the account was his.

Now there’s been a third death.

Highway troopers say 18-year-old Sydney McKie died in a single-car accident.

She left behind a son – Robinson’s son – who celebrated a birthday in November, the same month he lost both his parents a year apart.

The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office tells us the Internal Affairs investigation of Manecke is still open.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation investigated his death and sent the findings to the district attorney for the county where he died.  The GBI tells us it sent the information to the DA due to the facts and circumstances surrounding Manecke’s death.

Another investigation from the I-TEAM …

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