Inset left to right: Charles Miller, Joshua Miller, and Joshua Wilson (White County Sheriff”s Office). Background: The Low Gap Campground in Georgia (Recreation.gov).
A family camping trip ended in terror and violence over the weekend in Georgia — and now, four people are behind bars, while the father and daughter victims try to recuperate.
But questions still linger.
Krista Wilson, 44, Joshua Wilson, 42, Joshua Miller, 32, and Charles Miller, 39, each stand accused of aggravated assault and battery, according to the White County Sheriff’s Office.
The incident occurred on July 26, at the Low Gap Campground in Helen – a tiny mountain town in the northeast region of the Peach State – near Low Gap Creek, a tributary of the Chattahoochee River.
Responding deputies learned Krista Wilson attacked Gracee Waldon, 20, leading the younger woman to stab the older woman in self-defense, according to a press release issued by the sheriff’s office.
In an ensuing group attack, Bruce Waldon, 58, had his head smashed by a glass beer bottle. The father then fell to the ground, where his assailants allegedly continued to beat him.
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Both victims were rushed to the Northeast Georgia Medical Center; the daughter was originally listed under serious condition while her father was listed under critical condition in the intensive care unit.
The attack left Bruce Waldon with a cut from his right ear to the back of his neck that required 40 stitches, according to a GoFundMe and an interview another daughter, Brittanee Hollingsworth, gave to Augusta-based CBS and MyNetworkTV affiliate WRDW.
“This is just an act of evil and just senselessness,” Hollingsworth told the TV station. “My dad is having a lot of nightmares and just wakes up screaming because he’s afraid that they’re going to come and try to hurt the rest of the family.”
The family members were minding their own business when they were set upon from behind by the group, the unharmed daughter told WRDW.
“My dad was eating peanut brittle and fixing his fishing pole and my sister was eating boiled peanuts,” Hollingsworth went on. “And my dad was attacked with a beer bottle on the side of the head, and cut him from his ear to the back of his neck, and was passed out on the ground.”
That explanation aligns with how authorities have described the attack.
“Investigators were called to the scene and an investigation was launched into the incident,” the sheriff’s office said. “During the investigation, it was learned that a group of four individuals all from Lula GA assaulted the fifty-eight-year-old father and twenty-year-old daughter from Waco GA. During the assault, the daughter stabbed her attacker in self-defense. The father was struck with a glass beer bottle causing a severe laceration and assaulted while lying on the ground. The parties involved were identified and subsequently arrested.”
The daughter is already on the mend, the family says, but the father is expected to remain in the hospital for a prolonged period of time due to a brain bleed caused by the injuries.
“We have had several people ask how they can help,” Hollingsworth wrote in the online fundraiser. “If you feel led to donate, all funds will go to medical bills, hotels, and food as we are unaware of his release date. Above all, please continue to pray for my dad. My dad would give the shirt off his back without having another to put on.”
The family of the victims is now using the opportunity to push for the campground in question to ban alcohol – under the presumption that alcohol might have been a factor in the group’s attack.
“I don’t understand why you would do this to a man that was with his daughter for a camping trip,” Hollingsworth told WRDW.
The daughter also told the TV station she believes other people were likely involved in the attack on her father and sister.
The sheriff’s office says the investigation is ongoing.
