Justice For D.J. Fickey: There Was Witnesses To His Murder, So Why Was His Murder Ruled As A Suicide? Updated 10/17/2023

Update 10/17/2023-In 2022, DJ's death was ruled a homicide, and 50-year-old Marshall Payne was charged with shooting and killing DJ. At his arraignment he did not enter a plea. Payne is scheduled to return to court on November 6th, 2023.

Donald Edward "D.J." Fickey Jr.

He was born November 14th, 1988 to Kathy and Donald Edward Fickey, Sr. D.J. and his father were really close and when his father died it affected 14 year old D.J immensely. He never really got over his father's death and the loss impacted his whole life. 

Growing up D.J. loved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers and loved to follow his sisters around. They were just a really close knit family. D.J. was a member of Oakwood Baptist Church and an avid University of Tennessee Fan. He never met a stranger. He would instantly be friends with everyone he'd meet. D.J. was a loving husband, father, son and brother.

In 2014, D.J. married a girl he had went to high school with and her name is Brandi. 

They had three kids together. It was a happy marriage at first, but soon their marriage was in turmoil. D.J. and Brandi had problem with drugs, so much so that D.J.'s mother had to step in from time to time to help out with the kids.

D.J. finally decided he wanted to get sober and went to rehab. He even started training to be a professional fighter. He was loving life. Brandi wasn't doing so well though and it was making things difficult for D.J.  Brandi would often leave D.J. and the kids and stay with her drug dealer. Brandi and her drug dealer ended up having an affair. Every time Brandi would run off, D.J. would follow her, pleading for her to come back. Often the drug dealer would become violent with D.J., in one instance holding a knife to D.J.'s throat. Another time D.J. was attacked with a golf club and ended up defending himself with a baseball bat.

It was Monday, October 3rd, 2016 and 27 year old D.J. was in Chickamauga, Walker County, Georgia. D.J. and Brandi were finally in a good place and they were working things out. Things were looking up. Then something terrible happened....

D.J.'s mom was watching the children while D.J. and Brandi were staying in this house that was owned by a friend. The drug dealer was also staying in the very same house. D.J.'s mom received several texts from D.J. pleading for help, saying that he feared for his life and wanted to be picked up. D.J.'s mom had received test results from her doctor just days before saying that she needed a pacemaker put in and needed to stay away from stress. So D.J.'s mom told D.J. that she couldn't make the hour drive from Alabama to Georgia, which was a decision that she would end up regretting. Even if she had left after the first text, D.J.'s mom wouldn't have made it in time anyway and would possibly have put herself in a dangerous situation.

Within 3 minutes of D.J. sending his last text to his mother, the drug dealer placed a call to 9-1-1 claiming that D.J. shot himself in the face in a suicide attempt.

Caller: " I got the gun up and checked to see what it was and it was a 12 gauge."
Dispatcher: " Okay, so you moved the gun is that correct?"
Caller: " Yes".
Dispatcher: " Okay can you secure that gun, can you get it unloaded safely and get it to the side out of the way?"
Caller: "Yes."

Brandi was holding D.J. as passed away while waiting for paramedics. The responding deputy went inside, got the gun and put it out on the table. Investigators noted in their reports that the caller changed his story multiple times and later failed a polygraph test. He also fled before the investigation was completed.

The drug dealer said he was in another room at the time of the shooting. He then later told detectives he was wrestling D.J for the gun when it fired. 

Brandi told a different story. She said she saw the drug dealer come out of the bedroom, angrily point the gun at D.J. , called him a name and shot him. A friend of the drug dealer was there as well and said he saw the drug dealer with the gun pointed at D.J. and then the gun just went off.

There was also a container of bleach on the table outside along with a bloody towel in the garbage can.

D.J.'s body was taken to the Georgia Bureau Investigation crime lab for a limited autopsy. Even though D.J. was right-handed but the shot was to the left side of his face at an angle that may be inconsistent with a suicide, the GBI ruled DJ’s death a suicide.  After further investigation Walker County Police would go on to change their ruling to a possible homicide, but a spokesperson for the GBI said the case was reviewed, and they stand by their initial ruling.

"A GBI Medical Examiner conducted an examination of Mr. Fickey's injury. Based on the results of this examination, which includes a physical examination and information obtained from the Walker County Sheriff's Office investigation, the manner of death was ruled a suicide. Subsequently, the Medical Examiner's Office reviewed additional information connected to this case and performed further forensic testing. Based on the review, the results of the manner of death remain unchanged as the new information provided did not support a new finding. " - Nelly Miles, GBI Spokesperson.

This is what grinds my gears! There is freaking witnesses saying that D.J. was shot by the drug dealer for goodness sake! It also was practically impossible for D.J. to shoot himself in the left side of his face when he was right handed, especially the angle he was shot! D.J. was also sending texts to his mom fearing for his life right before being shot by a man that was violent to him before. HELLO! And as for further forensic testing, they did a toxicology screen and D.J. had some meth in his system. The medical examiner theorized that this is what made it a suicide, because of some nonsense of this making him be able to fight off an attacker, due to the meth. All i can say is "IDIOTS". How the hell can they reason that way? Plus, it was undisclosed that he had marjuana in his system.

DJ's family hired Private Investigator Eric Echols who is pushing for the case to be reopened because gunshot residue tests were never done to determine if DJ fired a gun. Echols also states that the shotgun used in DJ’s death has never been forensically tested for fingerprint, blood spatter or otherwise. Instead, the shotgun (which allegedly belongs to the person of interest) is still sitting in evidence at Walker County… untested.

Also the M.E. in D.J.'s case and the investigator that changed his death to a possible homicide never talked, so the M.E. had no idea that the cause of death was changed. The M.E. had limited information and was also misinformed. She was told that D.J. the first detective on the seen removed the gun from D.J.'s hand, which we know is not true.

No matter what addiction someone has or had, no matter what transpired in a person's life, everyone deserves justice. Law enforcement just looked at D.J. as some druggy that didn't matter. They looked at him like he was trash. BUT D.J. WASN'T TRASH! He was someone who was well loved. I never met D.J., but i care about him and his family. Everyone deserves justice. Would you want to live next to someone who probably got away with murder? Would you love your children to run around in a neighbor where the potential murderer is roaming free? Well, that is what is happening right now. The potential murderer is running around free, is he in your neighborhood?

D.J.'s death hit his family hard, especially his main advocate and sister Amanda. 

"They're never going to remember their daddy; they're never going to know him," Amanda explained. "He's never going to be here for birthday parties, Christmas, Halloweens or to walk his twin daughter's down the aisle," Amanda said. "What's right is right and what's wrong is wrong, and this is not right." 

You can find audio and video on Justice For DJ on Facebook.

On Twitter you can find Amanda at @JusticeForDj88.  

There is a petition to reopen the case HERE. 

The link for a fundraiser to help in the legal costs for D.J.'s case is HERE.

If you want to write letters for D.J.'s cause..

Walker County District Attorney  

Address: 114 E Patton St, LaFayette, GA 30728 Phone: (706) 638-2121 

Attorney General   

Address: 40 Capitol Square SW, Atlanta, GA 30334 Phone: (404) 656-3300 Governor's Office: Address: The Office of the Governor 203 State CapitolAtlanta, GA 30334 Mailing Address:206 Washington St.Suite 203, State CapitolAtlanta, GA 30334

Kendall Rae also does an amazing video featuring D.J.'s sister.