Effingham County Sheriff’s investigators have uncovered a far more grisly scenario as they continue to find out why a man initiated a standoff with authorities Friday night.

Chad Moretz, 34, was shot and killed Friday night by a Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department SWAT team sniper as he brandished a weapon at his Whitehall Avenue home in the Westwood Heights subdivision. Moretz had been holding his wife Kimberly hostage, with a four-hour standoff ensuing, before Kimberly managed to reach the safety of law enforcement personnel.

ECSO spokesman Detective David Ehsanipoor, in a briefing Saturday afternoon, said Moretz threatened to target and shoot law enforcement personnel. He also said investigators, as they combed through the house following the shooting, found body parts that may be the remains of a missing Chatham County man in the home.

The investigation also crosses state lines, since other body parts were discovered in a storage unit in Jasper County, according to Ehsanipoor. The body parts have been tentatively identified as those of Charles Ray, a Chatham County man who had been known to frequent Rincon and the Whitehall Avenue neighborhood.

“We believe Chad Moretz had a key role in killing Charles Ray,” Ehsanipoor said. 

The body parts discovered late Friday night in the Moretzes’ home match up with those missing from the remains found in the storage unit in Jasper County, Ehsanipoor added.

Kimberly Moretz, 40, of Rincon, was taken to Memorial University Medical Center for treatment of her injuries. But she and her brother, Kevin Lambert, 38, of Florida, have been arrested and charged with concealing a death.

Ehsanipoor said investigators are attempting to determine the connection between the Moretzes and Ray.

With dozens of law enforcement officers surrounding the house on Whitehall Avenue, shots were fired at approximately 6:35 p.m. Effingham County Sheriff's Office spokesman Detective David Ehsanipoor confirmed about half an hour later that the suspect died after being shot at least twice by an officer from the Savannah-Chatham Metro Police SWAT Team.

“We did everything we could to try to get Mr. Moretz out of that residence,” Ehsanipoor said. “We maintained contact on and off with him. He was not cooperative. At one point, he expressed the feelings he wanted to shoot deputies and other officers. He even went to the point that even when deputies were in the neighborhood, he would use his rifle to scope them in. He was thinking about going ahead and shooting officers at random times. This person obviously was not rational. We did everything we possibly could to get him out of that residence.

“When he walked outside, brandishing a rifle and pointing it at officers, we had no other choice.”

The Effingham County Sheriff’s Office was called to the house around 2:30 p.m. for a follow-up report. According to Ehsanipoor, the man in the home barricaded himself. He was armed with a high-powered rifle was holding a woman captive inside the home.

Hostage negotiators were unsuccessful in getting the man to end the situation peacefully. The suspect was uncooperative and refused to engage with negotiators, according to Ehsanipoor.

He added investigators are trying to find a motive for Ray’s killing. Ehsanipoor also said the sheriff’s office wanted to assure citizens there is not a murderer on the loose.

“Yesterday, we were focused on the negotiations. Our focus has turned to another homicide investigation and find out why this happened. We believe the killer is no longer with us,” he said.

The ECSO is continuing the investigation, and Ehsanipoor expressed the office’s thanks for the assistance from the Rincon Police Department, Rincon Fire Department, Effingham EMS, SCMPD, Jasper County (S.C.) Sheriff’s Office, Georgia State Patrol and other emergency responders.

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