Glynn County police Officer Robert Rash said he spoke several times to the unfinished home's owner, who sent him videos of Arbery at the site between Oct. 25 2019 and Feb. 23, 2020 - the day Arbery was killed at the end of a five-minute chase by white men in pickup trucks.
Instead, Arbery ended up dead. Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael armed themselves and pursued Arbery in a truck after he ran past their home five doors down from the construction site on a Sunday afternoon. A neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, 52, joined the chase in his own truck and took cellphone video of Travis McMichael shooting Arbery three times with shotgun.
Larry English, who owns the unfinished home, has said there was no evidence Arbery stole anything from the site. Still, he said he was concerned that the same person kept coming in the house after dark. “Did you deputize Greg McMichael? Did you give him any authority as a police officer?” prosecutor Linda Dunikoski asked Rash.
On Feb. 11, 2020, less than two weeks before Arbery was killed, Rash was again dispatched to the neighborhood after Travis McMichael called 911 and reported seeing the same man outside the unfinished home - and telling dispatchers the man reached for his pocket as if he had a gun.