A man from Georgia, Kathan Guzman, was mistakenly released from jail after being convicted of murdering his girlfriend. Following this error, he was captured in Florida two weeks later.
Authorities reported that Guzman was found on April 11, after investigators worked swiftly to locate him. Clayton County Sheriff Levon Allen announced that the U.S. Marshals Service apprehended Guzman in Ocoee, Florida, without any trouble at his mother’s home. He has since been taken to the Orange County Jail and will be returned to Georgia.
Sheriff Allen shared that his team quickly gathered information and used various methods to track Guzman’s whereabouts, realizing he was no longer in Georgia. They then contacted the U.S. Marshals, who successfully took over the case.
Guzman had been wrongly released from the Clayton County Jail on March 27. The reason for this error is under investigation, and it’s possible that disciplinary actions will follow against those responsible at the sheriff’s office. The mistake was discovered on April 8, when the District Attorney’s Office in Clayton County inquired about Guzman.
At the time of his release, Guzman awaited transfer to the Georgia Department of Corrections to start serving his life sentence. He was found guilty in late 2024 for the murder of his 19-year-old girlfriend, Delila Grayson. Reports noted that he had been convicted of felony murder and aggravated assault, following an incident in August 2022 that led to her death. After killing her, Guzman moved Grayson’s body and did not report the crime for over ten hours.
