‘My kids won’t even sleep in their rooms’: Georgia Family Fears Escaped Inmate Returning to Area After Killing Father of Newborn

A manhunt in Georgia is currently underway for Melvin Barkley, an inmate sentenced to 30 years in prison without parole for the death of a Carrolton man.

Police said Barkley escaped from the Georgia Department of Corrections Atlanta Transitional Center on Ponce De Leon Avenue on Friday, after failing to return from work duty.

According to GDC, Barkley received a theft conviction on November 1, 2023, with a scheduled release date of July 22. Officials said the placement in the transitional facility was suitable for that particular charge, 11Alive News reports.

Eight days later, on November 9, 2023, Barkley was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter, alongside other charges, in connection with the death of Tyler Waters in Carrolton. Tyler’s family is now concerned that the escaped inmate will come back to the area after they were reportedly told he was “headed” for them.

“My kids won’t even sleep in their rooms, they don’t want to go to school, they took my bedroom over, my wife sleeps right there and I sit here all night long with my gun in my hand, just waiting on him to open my doorstep on my porch,” Tyler’s father, Larry Waters, said.

“It shouldn’t have been allowed to happen; I mean, if he would have been put where he should have been, where they told me he was going to be put, I don’t believe it would have happened.”

Family members said that Tyler, who was 23 when he lost his life, had just become the father of a newborn girl when Barkley stabbed him in the neck during an argument.

Meanwhile, GDC told 11Alive that they didn’t receive information about Barkley’s manslaughter conviction until December 1, 2023, after Barkley had already been placed in the transfer facility.