Jennifer Lynn Shields, left, and Steven Michael McFadden are charged in the death of Sgt. 1st Class Edward Fico. SPECIAL

Couple is charged in slaying

Authorities have identified a man found stabbed to death Sunday outside a 15th Street auto repair garage and charged a man and his girlfriend in connection with the death.

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Steven Michael McFadden and Jennifer Lynn Shields are charged in the death of Sgt. 1st Class Edward Fico. SPECIAL

Richmond County Deputy Coroner Mark Bowen identified the victim as Sgt. 1st Class Edward Fico, 33, of Clarkville, Tenn.

Sgt. 1st Class Fico, of the 501st Signal Battalion at Fort Campbell, Ky., was temporarily at Fort Gordon for advanced noncommissioned signal officer training, said Marla Jones, a civilian public affairs officer at Fort Gordon.

Police charged a boyfriend and girlfriend Tuesday in Sgt. 1st Class Fico's death.

Steven Michael McFadden, 21, of Thomson, and Jennifer Lynn Shields, 23, of Augusta, were charged with murder, armed robbery and possession of a knife during the commission of a crime, Richmond County sheriff's Maj. Ken Autry said.

Both were arrested late Monday at a hotel in McDuffie County with the assistance of Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents, he said, and were booked into the Richmond County jail after midnight.

"The investigators followed a bunch of leads, and one of those leads led to the arrest of these two people," Maj. Autry said. "It unfolded kind of quickly yesterday afternoon."

Sgt. 1st Class Fico was found at about 2:30 p.m. Sunday and was later taken to the GBI crime lab in Atlanta, according to the Richmond County Coroner's Office.

Mr. Bowen said a positive identification was confirmed using fingerprint records from the FBI. He said the official cause of death was a stab wound to the chest.

Maj. Autry said investigators are trying to piece together what happened to the victim.

"Once they finish the investigation or get to a certain point, there'll be a lot more that I can share," he said.

Maj. Autry would not give further details about the case, including the connection between the accused and the victim.

Reach Jeremy Craig at (706) 823-3409 or jeremy.craig@augustachronicle.com.

--From the Wednesday, December 10, 2003 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle