SANDERSVILLE, Ga. — The smell of wood chips from Georgia Pacific still brings Dante Holsey to tears.

It was the scent his eldest son Dontavious Holsey carried home every day after 12-hour shifts, work boots heavy in his hands as he walked through the door to embrace his little sister.

"I used to get on him all the time," Dante Holsey said. "I'd say, 'Tay, why you always smelling like that?' He'd say, 'Dad, I'm at work. What you think I'm supposed to smell like?'"

Those everyday moments have become precious memories for a family still grappling with an unimaginable loss. On Sept. 30, 2024 — nearly one year ago — 23-year-old Dontavious "Tay" Holsey was shot and killed near the intersection of Wallace Road and Johnson Road in east Macon. Dontavious "Tay" Holsey was killed in an east M

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