A #CarrollCountyGA man serving a 30-year sentence without the possibility of parole for stabbing another man to death is now a fugitive after he failed to return to his correctional facility from a work program, officials said.
Melvin Barkley, 36, of #CarrolltonGA was housed in the Atlanta Transitional Center, where inmates are employed in jobs outside the state prison system, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Corrections said. He failed to return to the transitional center after work Friday, prompting the GDC’s fugitive unit to begin searching for him.
In November of 2023, Barkley was convicted of stabbing and killing Tyler Waters on May 3, 2018. According to the district attorney, Waters called Barkley and the two got into an argument over unpaid rent. Barkley and his fiancée were living with Waters’ great-aunt at the time and Waters claimed they weren’t paying her rent.
Waters then went to his great-aunt’s home. According to the district attorney, Waters and Barkley got into a fight before Waters “essentially won the fight” and drove away.
Barkley drove after Waters and the two got into another fight, according to the district attorney. Barkley stabbed Waters in the throat during the fight, cutting his jugular. Waters then died in his car.
Barkley pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and two counts of possession of a knife during the commission of a felony. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison without parole and 20 years of probation.
