Crime & Safety

2 Portraits Emerge in Drug Overdose Case

Kaleigh Rene Denig of Douglasville and Zachary Ryan Shipp of Powder Springs have been charged with concealing death of another.

In a YouTube video, Kaleigh Rene Denig of Douglasville plays a woman who calls 911 when her mother's character overdoses on drugs.

But in real life, Denig and boyfriend Zachary Ryan Shipp of Powder Springs were arrested June 8, about two weeks after Topper Duffy, 24, died of an apparent heroin overdose. The pair allegedly tried to conceal Duffy's death by disposing his body beside a Dumpster at the Dollar General on Central Church Road, according to a warrant obtained by the Douglas County Sentinel.

"I guess it definitely has some ironic overtones," Sgt. Jesse Hambrick with the Douglas County Sheriff's Office told 11Alive's Paul Crawley.

Denig, 21, and Shipp, 22, have been charged with concealing death of another for their roles in the incident.

Denig denied any involvement and told the judge taking the body to Dollar General was her mom's idea.

Duffy, a Dallas songwriter and entertainer, played across the state with the band Lucid, according to his obituary, which lists May 25 as his date of death.

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