By Mark Woolsey

The Georgia Department of Corrections has set a Dec. 17 execution date for Stacey Humphreys, who was convicted in the 2003 killing of two real estate agents in West Cobb.

Humphreys has been jailed since shortly after the bodies of agents Cindy Williams and Lori Brown were found in a model home for a new subdivision in West Cobb.

The Georgia Supreme Court says Humphreys, a convicted felon on parole, entered the subdivision’s sales office and flashed a handgun. He forced both women to strip naked, ordered them to reveal the PIN for their ATM cards, then called their banks to learn the balance on their accounts.

Humphreys choked Williams with her own underwear, then shot her in the back and head.

Brown suffered a hemorrhage on her throat as well, either from being choked or struck and was shot in the head.

Police released a suspect and vehicle description and a co-worker tipped authorities that Humphreys and his Dodge Durango were a match. He also said Humphreys had skipped work the day of the killings.

Police arranged for Humphreys to meet with his parole officer four days after the crime, but heskipped out of the meeting and eluded officers watching him.

Humphreys was caught the next day in Wisconsin. Along with a Ruger 9-millimeter pistol believed to be the murder weapon, they found blood on the gun and in the Durango matching the victims’ DNA.

Police say about $3,000 was taken from the victims’ bank accounts.

A Cobb County grand jury indicted Humphreys on a lengthy list of charges in 2004, and in 2007, a Cobb jury found him guilty of malice murder and felony murder: aggravated assault, armed robbery and other charges. The trial court sentenced Humphreys to death based on the jury’s recommendation.

In the ensuing years, Humphrey’s direct appeal and his petition for a writ of habeas corpus were denied at both the state and federal levels.If executed, he would become the 58^th death row inmate to be executed in Georgia since 1976,