Pedophile politician's $150,000 bribery scheme
Saturday, Apr. 25 2009 @ 3:09PM
UPDATE
MyFoxAtlanta has identified the victims in the shooting today as Tom Tanner, Ben Teague, and Zinkhan's own wife (some reports say ex-wife), family law professor Marie E. Bruce. Bruce was the president of the board for Town and Gown Players.
Original post
It just isn't every day that a college professor is accused of murder. And it's rarer still when one is accused of a triple homicide.
The following comes from the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
Three people have been killed in a Saturday afternoon in downtown Athens, authorities said.
The shooting happened about 2 p.m. at or near the Athens Community Theatre off Prince Avenue.
[...]
[The] suspect is George M. Zinkhan III, a professor in the Department of Marketing and Distribution.
 |
| George M. Zinkhan III |
Two other were hurt during the incident.
Zinkhan is the Coca-Cola Company Professor in the Department of Marketing and Distribution at the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business.
According to Atlanta NBC affiliate WXIA, the murders took place at the Athens Community Theater behind the historic Taylor-Grady House. The Town and Gown Players had a scheduled performance of Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure at the theater tonight. That performance, according to the troupe's website, has been cancelled.
In an interview on CNN, the father of a witness to the shootings stated that George Zinkhan's wife was a member of the board that ran the Town and Gown Players. Zinkhan was at a fundraiser for the theater group [a reunion of former members of the group, according to later reports on the same network] and got into an argument with someone. Zinkhan left but came back later. That was when he allegedly opened fire.
One report contained a chilling quote from Athens-Clarke Assistant Police Chief Alan Brown, who told the Athens newspaper that Zinkhan "may have had multiple weapons."
According to CNN, Zinkhan is described as "a white male in his mid-50s with a goatee or beard. ... He was last seen wearing a polo shirt, blue shorts, and a backpack. He was last thought to be in a red car in the area of Prince Avenue" in downtown Athens.
Zinkhan once contributed a collection of 16 poems to an online marketing community. The collection was titled, "Marketing as Life" and broken down into 4 sections. Some of the poems seem to no longer be online. One of them was titled "Voluntary Disposal," or "Dead Rat Tomorrow." It read:
"Son, get the shovel.
There's a dead rat stinking in the backyard.""Why do we have to now, Dad?
It was out there yesterday.
It'll be there tomorrow.""Let's go now.
Turn off the TV.""It's raining, Dad
And the rat is shrinking.
It used to be more of a rat.""More of a rat?"
"Tomorrow, Dad."
"Tomorrow?"
This post will be updated and revised as information becomes available.
Additional links:
* A copy of George M. Zinkhan's profile page on UGA's website. I preserved it because Universities are often very quick to take such a thing offline if a student or professor is accused of a violent, high-profile crime.
* George M. Zinkhan's curriculum vitae.
* Zinkhan's page at RatemyProfessor.com. Comments made prior to 4/25/09 range from "quirky but... hysterically funny" to "he demonstrated himself to be cold hearted and just plain nasty when I needed help. Stay away from this man.."
* George Zinkhan was the 2009 winner of the "Terry Outstanding Faculty Award."
* At one time, Zinkhan owned this domain: j-ams.org. It was, at the time, the Journal for the Academy of Marketing Science. No less than infamous TV pitchman Don LaPre owns the current incarnation of the domain.
* A former student of Zinkhan's gives an interesting thumbnail sketch of the professor in-class in a blog post about the murders.
* Website of murder victim Ben Teague: BenTeague.com.
* Public Facebook group begun today: "STOP (SUSPECT) UGA PROF. GEORGE ZINKHAN TODAY!"
Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure? A reunion and fund raiser of the "Town and Gown?" A corporate professor complete with goatee?
Is this straight out of a Columbo or Murder She Wrote script or what?
Posted 04/25/2009 at 05:41:49 PMRegarding his poetry (make that "poetry"), one can't help but wondering what was beneath the surface in lines like these, from 'The Cookie Shop':
That night as if in a delicious dream
the same cookie appeared to me -- whole --
grinning wide a death’s head grin.
Silver sprinkles formed the outline of his skull,
his mouth a gaping hole
of dark, black chocolate.
When he swallowed me,
whole,
I ceased to be.
As well, the poems should have, written above them, "'sic' throughout." THIS guy was a university prof?
Posted 04/25/2009 at 05:47:31 PMYeats and Keats can both rest easy as this guy must be a better (one hopes) professor than poet.
Shhhh.... listen closely.... off in the distance across the expanse you can hear faint sounds... voices... yes - they are voices.... one a bit shrill..... why.. it is...
Senator Diane Feinstein speaking with .... a man.... I think.... yes, why ...it is...
Gov. Rendell of PA! Now more clearly we hear.... yes.... laughter, mirth,,, happy voices as they are ready to stick us with gun legislation that bans everything ! Everything!!! Why, if you are licensed you can still own a peashooter .
How pleased they are to hear of another psycho who until today was filled with what kind of Rx. Medicines and who lost touch with reality and used a gun on others. This creep of a professor feeds right into the misguided idea that by taking away even more liberty Americans will be safer.
Pass a Patriot Act! You'll be safer! Ban Guns! You'll be safer! Torture prisoners! You'll be safer! Let all cars be GPS'ed! You'll be safer!
Yet the more laws and regulations they pass the more helpless we all become.
Thanks, professor.
Posted 04/25/2009 at 05:54:53 PMIf Prof Guy ever heard of Yeats, perhaps he would have written
And what rough
Coca-Cola Company Professor in the Department of
Marketing and Distribution at the University of
Georgia's Terry College of Business,
His hour come round at last,
Slouches toward Athens to be born?
(That is, if he could have found his way out of the homoerotic construct in "The Cookie Shop"'s final stanza.)
Posted 04/25/2009 at 06:13:19 PMWhat worries me most about this is tonight is the twilight Bicycle Race in Athens. A big event with thousands of people downtown. If this guy wants to take out a bunch of people he could not have picked a better night! Police have already said he may have several weapons. And he is described as having a back pack with him. That scares me! All of this is going on in the same general area has the shooting this morning.
Posted 04/25/2009 at 07:07:27 PMOh my. Not often you hear of professors who go on a homicidal spree!
BTW, error on:
"I preserved it because Universitys are often very quick to take such a thing offline if a student or professor is accused of a violent, high-profile crime."
Universities, plural.
Posted 04/25/2009 at 07:16:33 PMThis is yet another wake up call for all of us. It's not only foreign terrorists we need to be fearful of, but our own College Professors, Sunday School teachers, Med Students, even family members...just to name a few from today's headlines. Evil can and will assume the face of Everyman.
Posted 04/25/2009 at 07:44:33 PMI knew it was a domestic situation, as soon as I heard about it. Not that it takes great sleuthing to figure that out, lately. Loser.
Posted 04/25/2009 at 08:55:09 PMNothing more pathetic than a Business professor who longs to be a English professor, unless it's a business professor who decides to shoot his wife and a bunch of innocent bystanders. From reading the various online ratings from former students, something happened to the guy around 2003.
Posted 04/25/2009 at 09:07:00 PMOh,and there is another use for a "pimp spoon" (extra long pinkie nail) besides snorting coke/meth: it's also used in gouging out eyes in a fight. Hope they find this guy fast. Hope someone is watching his kids.
Not that it's likely to have anything to do with the crime, but just what exactly is a Coca Cola Company Professor, anyway?
Posted 04/25/2009 at 10:37:46 PMHe has done some things in the past that suggest a serious problem. Colleagues know more than they can really say about past behavior that makes his actions seem much less surprising.
NOTE FROM STEVE: 'John' - were these incidents kept hush-hush by administration?
Posted 04/26/2009 at 12:11:32 PMNot to sound insulting to professors or dismiss his strange behavior, but am I the only one who was surprised when they actually had a seemingly NORMAL professor in a college class? I went to NYU and it seemed like every one there was a little nutty. I don't think his behavior meant anything at all.
Posted 04/26/2009 at 12:30:42 PMJust re-read my comment and realized I said I didn't mean to dismiss his behavior while dismissing his behavior. What I actually meant was that if it was truly odd behavior, I didn't want to dismiss it. However, I'm willing to bet it really wasn't that odd. I'm also willing to bet that when a middle aged husband shoots his middle aged wife, especially at a work place-type environment, it's either a) related to jealousy or b) divorce-related. We've seen this scenario many times.
Posted 04/26/2009 at 07:38:05 PM@steve Yes, he was asked to leave quietly in exchange for silence.
NOTE FROM STEVE: My email address is truecrimereport [at] gmail [dot] com. I would really like to know more about this. You can remain anonymous if you wish. Thanks, either way.
Posted 04/26/2009 at 08:08:52 PMI, personally, think this guy has driven into the nearby mountains and shot himself. They may never find him.
Posted 04/26/2009 at 09:19:16 PMI agree with Nancy. I bet that he has already killed himself. Hopefully.
Posted 04/27/2009 at 09:25:47 AMHey Steve,
Seems the good professor's passport is missing and he has a ticket out of the country for May 2nd (I am sure he isn't so stupid as to use it at this time)
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iw8wxkpeLufk-1Be-7iJBhA344iAD97QSKOG0
Also, at the "redhead" blog you linked to in your story..in the comments section... a poster there noted a comment from a "friend" in the Netherlands.. and she made a comment like see you soon, etc. in April. It also seems that the nutty professor has a home in Amsterdam.
I echo Soobers... Loser.
Posted 04/27/2009 at 02:49:11 PM"Police said Zinkhan then went to his neighbor's house to drop off his two young children, who were in the car at the time of the shooting. The children are now in the custody of Bruce's family."
http://wjz.com/national/georgia.professor.shooting.2.995464.html
Wow...his kids were in the car at the time of the shooting! That is just sick!
Posted 04/27/2009 at 02:55:12 PMhttp://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2009/04/27/zinkhan_netherlands.html
Some good background on the Amsterdam connection. Seems he was to be there THIS WEEK to teach.
Posted 04/27/2009 at 03:17:06 PMSoobs, Becs, and nursebeeme so good to see you still keeping on with Steve. (That Italian Trial will never end.)
Here's a link for background to The Play in Question, and yes, it seems a gun does go off in the 3rd Act:
http://blog.cleveland.com/top_entertainment/2007/10/sherlock_holmes_the_final_adve.html
Posted 04/28/2009 at 05:02:04 PMRobert M, good to see you! You too, nurse!!
NOTE FROM STEVE: I second that, Soobs. 'Bout time some of the old-skool true crime blog readers started showing up here!
Posted 04/29/2009 at 08:46:53 AMTell you what! "KPR" who posted here has some real serious problems. My bet is in some near year, he'll be in the news for going off his nut and gunning somebody(s) down to "preserve his second amendment rights". Any takers?
Posted 05/04/2009 at 04:27:34 AM