No Bond For Couple Charged in Murder of Lavonia Businessman

By MJ Kneiser, WLHR Radio, Lavonia

Rayfondia Craft and Kristen Odister, the two suspects charged in the murder of Lavonia business owner Samuel Harbin, remain in the Franklin County Detention Center without bond.

Franklin County Magistrate Judge Cody Grizzle denied the couple’s bond last week shortly after their arrest.

Harbin was found dead in his home on Gilmer Street on Monday after he failed to show up to his office at the Pointe South mobile home park he owned.

An autopsy by the GBI Crime Lab determined Harbin had died of blunt force trauma to the head.

After an around-the-clock investigation by Lavonia Police, the GBI, and the Franklin and Hart County Sheriff’s offices, Craft was arrested late Thursday morning on a farm in Bowersville where he worked, according to Hart County Sheriff Mike Cleveland.

Cleveland said Craft is well-known to law enforcement in Hart County with dozens of past warrants on his record – most having to do with family or domestic violence.

For that reason, Cleveland said he was concerned about how and where Craft’s arrest would take place.

But, he said with multiple law enforcement agencies involved, the operation to take Craft into custody Thursday went very smoothly.

Investigators with the Lavonia Police and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation are not saying what Craft and Odister’s motive was for allegedly killing Harbin.

However, they did say the investigation is ongoing and there could be more arrests.