SLAIN GEORGIAN SUSPECTS NOT GUILTY IN PEACE CORPS KILLING

Four men accused in the 2009 murder of 24-year-old Peace Corps volunteer Kate Puzey of Georgia in the West African country of Benin have been acquitted and set free, U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson has confirmed.

“The trial lasted two full days. In the end, they were all let go,” Isakson said in a phone interview from his Cobb County home, where he is recuperating from back surgery last week.

Because the trial coincided with his hospital stay, Isakson was unable to make it to the courthouse. In his stead went U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Oklahoma. Puzey’s mother, Lois, and brother, David, bore witness as well.

Kate Puzey, who graduated from high school in Cumming, was an English instructor in a Benin village when, on Feb. 9, 2009, she sent an email to the country’s Peace Corps director. She reported that Constant Bio, who taught at Kate’s school and was regularly hired to put together Peace Corps training sessions, was molesting local girls.

Word at headquarters leaked out. Jacques Bio, a brother of Constant Bio, was an associate director for Peace Corps Benin at the time.

One month later, Puzey was found dead on her front porch. Her throat had been slit.

The Bio brothers and two others were arrested.

Isakson attended Puzey’s funeral, uninvited — and would spend the next seven years pushing Benin authorities to put Puzey’s accused killers on trial. He made three trips to Benin. He delivered a letter from then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the country’s president. He visited the minister of justice. The FBI was made available.

In the meantime, Isakson developed a close relationship with Puzey’s parents — to the point that her mother, Lois Puzey, was featured in a 2016 campaign ad for Isakson. (Harry Puzey, Kate’s father, has since died of cancer.)

Despite the outcome, the senator said he hoped the trial provided some closure for the Puzey family. In 2011, Isakson sponsored the Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama. The measure increased protections for Peace Corps volunteers who are victims of violence, including sexual assault.

“I feel some self-satisfaction about that,” Isakson said, “even if the verdict didn’t go our way.”