Autopsy shows man in standoff killed self

12-21-2009 Georgia:

Details are few in the death of a 33-year-old accused child molester in a standoff with police Saturday night.

ST. MARYS - An accused child molester's fatal injuries indicate that he had shot himself to death during a standoff with St. Marys police on Saturday, a crime lab autopsy showed.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting death of 33-year-old Robert Dane at Sugarmill, a mid-range subdivision with hundreds of homes.

The GBI and police have released little information about the standoff and subsequent death, but Sheriff Tommy Gregory said Sunday that the victim died at 6:05 p.m., an hour after St. Marys police arrived at a home on the 100 block of Natures Bounty Trail to serve a bench warrant.

The warrant authorized police to arrest Robert Dane for failing to appear in September for the jury selection portion of his Superior Court trial on child molestation and other charges at the Camden County Courthouse.

After conducting an autopsy on Dane's body Monday, a medical examiner at the GBI crime lab in Savannah said Dane's injuries were consistent with a suicide, said Mike McDaniel, special agent in charge of the GBI office in Kingsland.

McDaniel said St. Marys police asked his agency to conduct a death investigation about 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

Investigators are also planning to interview other possible witnesses, McDaniel said.

He would not say whether anyone was inside the house with Dane during the standoff.

"We're still in the midst of an investigation. Once we finish the investigation and get all the facts together, we'll give more information," McDaniel said.

According to court records, Dane, 33, was accused of having sex with a 14-year-old girl over a six-month period in 2005. He was charged with statutory rape, enticing a child for indecent purposes, sexual battery and two counts of child molestation. He was released from jail after paying a $13,900 bond.

The victim, who is not identified, claimed to have had sex with Dane more than 20 times between April and October 2005. Dane also gave the victim the drug Xanax and told her she could not get pregnant because he used steroids, according to the arrest warrant.

Johnny Guy, a St. Marys Police detective, said Monday that nobody from his agency is allowed to comment because the investigation is under the GBI's jurisdiction. ..Source.. by Gordon Jackson