Dalton, GA: Dalton woman charged with murder In death of ex-husband

Mark Millican
markmillican@daltoncitizen.com

A Dalton woman is charged with murder and abandonment of a body in the death of her ex-husband, former Dalton resident John Patrick Hade, authorities said.

Loretta Ivey, 48, of Abigail Street, called Loretta Hade in a Gilmer County Superior Court bill of indictment, was arrested in Dalton on Tuesday, said Kimberly Williams, agent in charge of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) office in Cleveland.

Ivey is charged with malice murder, aggravated assault, concealing a death and abandonment of a dead body in an incident that allegedly occurred near Ellijay, according to the indictment.

Her husband, Shawn Glenn Ivey, 35, of Rabun County and formerly of Gilmer County, was arrested on Sept. 13 and charged with murder after the GBI received a tip he was involved in the death of Hade, 53, of Ellijay. Hade was a resident of Dalton and Tunnel Hill for around 30 years, a family member said.

“This will conclude the arrests in this case,” Williams said on Friday. “At one time there were no more arrests pending, but after a review of the case and getting through the process with Mr. Ivey, a Gilmer County grand jury handed down the indictment last week.”

District Attorney Joe Hendricks Jr. of the Appalachian Judicial Circuit called Hade’s death and the arrests of Shawn Ivey and Loretta Ivey “one of the most bizarre cases I’ve ever seen,” but did not elaborate on Friday. Shawn Ivey pleaded not guilty in Gilmer County Superior Court in January. He is tentatively set to go to trial in July, Hendricks said.

He said Loretta Ivey is being held in the Pickens County Detention Center in Jasper without bond. Shawn Ivey is being held in Gilmer County.

In the malice murder count, the indictment alleges that “as co-conspirators” Shawn Ivey and Loretta Ivey “with malice aforethought (caused) the death of (Hade) by striking the victim’s head with a blunt object.” The accusation states the murder took place sometime between July 1 and Aug. 10 of 2007.

In the concealment and abandonment counts, the grand jury charged that the Iveys concealed Hade’s body “in a wooded and overgrown area.”

The skeletal remains of Hade were found on the eastern side of Fort Mountain on Sept. 8 near the Murray-Gilmer line after a search by the sheriff’s offices from Gilmer County and Murray County, the state Department of Natural Resources and the GBI. A missing person’s report had not been filed with any law enforcement agency, the GBI said.

Williams said Loretta Ivey is “the current wife of Shawn Ivey and an ex-wife of John Hade. She was married to both.”