A Henry County man has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years for the murder of one man, arson, and the attempted murder of another man.

Gregory Mason Heightchew, 25, was sentenced in Henry County Circuit Court on April 18 for the gruesome 2018 murder of Elijah Creekmore of Henry County and the attempted murder of Henry County resident Demarcus Pinion. He was found guilty in February by a Henry County jury.

Police said Heightchew used a Remington 1911 R1 .45-caliber pistol to shoot Creekmore at Heightchew’s Lake Jericho Road residence before he and Joshua Jackson (who previously pleaded guilty to complicity to murder, complicity to arson and tampering with evidence in the case) loaded Creekmore into a 2005 Chevy Impala then drove to the Six Mile Creek location and set the car on fire with Creekmore inside.

“All that was left were ashes and horrible images,” Creekmore’s aunt, Lisa, said during the victim impact statement portion of the sentencing hearing.

Prosecutor Courtney Baxter, commonwealth’s attorney for the 12th Judicial Circuit, said during the hearing she’d never prosecuted such a horrible crime in her 19 years of service, and recommended the maximum penalty to Judge Jerry Crosby, who handed down the sentence.

Crosby sentenced Heightchew to life without the possibility of parole for 25 years on the murder charge; life without the possibility of parole for 25 years on a charge of first-degree arson; 20 years for attempted murder; and five years for tampering with physical evidence. The sentencing amounts for each is concurrent.

Following his conviction, his attorney, Erin Kennedy-Startzman, said the Heightchew conviction will be further pursued.

“He (Heightchew) maintains his innocence,” she said. “We look forward to the appeal.”

She cited a confession attributed to Joshua Jackson (which Judge Crosby ruled inadmissible for the trial) that stated Jackson, not Heightchew, committed the murder and arson.

“His intent to do an affidavit was clear,” she said of Jackson, who Judge Crosby found in contempt of court for violation of his plea agreement when he refused to testify in the Heightchew trial.

Jackson received 30 years of servable prison time for his convictions of complicity to murder and arson in addition to tampering with physical evidence.