Newnan Police Chief Brent Blankenship announced that a 38-year-old man is in custody after admitting to Blake Chappell’s m*rd*r.

NEWNAN, Ga. — Nearly 15 years after Blake Tyler Chappell vanished after his homecoming dance, a man has confessed to the Coweta County teen’s murder.

Chappell was 17 years old when he didn’t come home from the East Coweta High School event. It was October 15, 2011. Two months later, on Dec. 19, his body was found in a Coweta County creek. He had been shot and killed, left in his underwear.

Newnan Police Department officials arrested Scotty Elliot Smith on Friday. The 38-year-old is accused of murder, aggravated assault, tampering with evidence, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, and concealing a death.

“Smith was not previously investigated,” Newnan Police Chief Brent Blankenship said in a prepared statement.

He added that in investigating a new lead, the Newnan Police Department was able to name Smith as a person of interest. During investigative interviews, Smith confessed to the murder, according to the police chief.

Authorities did not share a motive for the case or details that led to the killing. In the meantime, Smith is being held in the Coweta County Jail.

Credit: Coweta County Sheriff’s Office

Blake Chappell’s disappearance, murder

Chappell was formally reported missing on October 16, 2011, according to Blankenship. Early that morning, Chappell left his girlfriend’s home off Mary Freeman Road in Newnan and was walking back to a friend’s house in the Summergrove neighborhood.

Newnan Police first investigated Chappell’s disappearance as a missing person and runaway case, eventually evolving into a homicide investigation that would span for more than a decade.

For more than 10 years, there were no new leads in the case. Yet, his mother, Melissa Becker, never gave up.

A billboard pleading for answers along Highway 19/41 in Jonesboro called for tips. Becker, partnered with the nonprofit Seasons of Justice to the raise money.

“That could be anyone’s son on that billboard,” Chappell’s mother previously said. “He had his whole life ahead of him.”

Last March, Newnan Police served three search warrants in the Sharpsburg area. Detectives said they had collected new evidence and handed it over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Becker, who worked to make sure her son’s case was never forgotten, said she could forgive an “imaginary person,” but it was the unanswered questions that haunted her.

“I just want to know why. Just allow us to have some peace. He was just an innocent child. He did nothing wrong,” she said.

“While an arrest has occurred, this is still an ongoing investigation,” Blankenship said.

Anyone with information about this case can call Newnan Police at 770-254-2355.