Autopsy: Official drowned

Glynn County commissioner also was shot in head.

An autopsy of Glynn County Commissioner Tom Sublett shows he drowned after suffering a gunshot wound to his head, Glynn County Coroner Jimmy Durden said Thursday after talking with state medical examiners.

How Sublett was shot and fell into the Frederica River is still undetermined, Durden said.

Glynn County police have conducted their in- vestigation as a homicide since Sublett was found about 6 a.m. Tuesday. They have now turned control of the investigation over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Sublett, 52, was found in the river, on the western edge of St. Simons Island, near a boat dock adjacent to Gascoigne Bluff Park. His car was parked about 150 yards away, at the park at the intersection of Arthur J. Moore Drive and Hamilton Road.

A source familiar with the investigation said Sublett’s hands had been bound in front of him with a zip tie, or a type of plastic band used to tie together cables or wires.

Glynn County Police Chief Matt Doering said Thursday that much relevant information has been found, with the help of the Georgia State Patrol dive team, which helped search for evidence in the river.

Mike McDaniel, special agent in charge of the GBI office at Kingsland, declined to comment Thursday on specifics, saying he wanted to preserve the investigation’s integrity.

Sublett was last seen by a friend after 10 p.m. Monday, when he dropped the man off after a poker game at his car in a parking lot on U.S. 341, west of Interstate 95. Sublett presumably began his drive to his home on St. Simons Island.