Gainesville Man Charged With Murder in Cumming Woman's Death

U.S. Marshals tracked Loron Spaulding to New Jersey, where the 35-year-old Gainesville man was arrested and charged with malice murder in the death of Diaja Benson, a 30-year-old woman who had been reported missing from Dawsonville on Feb. 20 and whose body was found weeks later in a wooded area near Lanier 400 Parkway and Bald Ridge Road in Cumming.

Benson's body was recovered on March 13 after a search involving multiple agencies across county lines. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation took the lead on the case at the request of local law enforcement, coordinating with the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office and ultimately the U.S. Marshals Service, whose reach extended the investigation beyond Georgia's borders.

Spaulding remained in custody in New Jersey pending extradition as of early April. Once returned to Georgia, he is expected to be booked into the Forsyth County Jail and face a judge in the Bell-Forsyth Judicial Circuit. The GBI will transfer the case file to the Bell-Forsyth Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office for prosecution after extradition is complete, at which point prosecutors will review potential charges and determine whether additional counts will be filed.

Investigators have not publicly disclosed a cause of death or a motive, and no information about any relationship between Spaulding and Benson has been released. Those details remain among the central unanswered questions as the case moves toward prosecution.

The discovery of Benson's body rattled people near the Cumming site where she was found. A local hospital worker put it plainly: "That's just terrible. That's just messed up, and it's surprising for this area. I feel it's a normally safe area."

Malice murder is among the most serious charges in Georgia, carrying penalties that can include life in prison. The GBI has asked anyone with information about the case to contact the agency directly.