Clay Wiggins named Investigator of the Year by the Georgia DA Association

Published 1:30 pm Thursday, July 31, 2025

When Clay Wiggins became a full-time investigator with the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office, it marked one of the happiest times of his life.

He’s grown into one of the best investigators the office has ever had, despite health-related crises that have tried to rob him of what he loves doing the most.

Earlier this summer, Wiggins was honored as one of the top investigators within district attorney offices across the state.

The prestigious honor came last month when he was named the recipient of the Division 2 “Investigator of the Year” by the Georgia District Attorney’s Association.

Wiggins grew up in Warrenton, but his family moved to Jones County in 2002. Years later, he started a family of his own.

He got a job working as a dispatcher with the Jones County Sheriff’s Office. He eventually started working part-time as an investigator with the district attorney’s office.

He brought with him knowledge and a technological skill-set never before seen in the district attorney’s office. That was back in 2018, the year after he married his wife, Heather, who already had two adopted daughters. Fast-forward, and he is now the proud dad of them both, as well as three biological children.

Life was going well for him and his family up until January 2024, when Wiggins learned he had a serious health problem.

He went to a gastroenterologist in Macon because he was experiencing a lot of acid reflux.

The doctor informed him after he performed an endoscopy that he had a tumor in his stomach and that it was cancerous.

Wiggins underwent a series of chemotherapy treatments at Central Georgia Cancer Care in Macon.

Since then, it’s been an up-and-down battle as he has continued his fight against the disease.

At the time he found out he had cancer, his wife was nine months pregnant.

Emotions nearly consumed him.

Once again, he finds himself in the hospital. And once again, he fights a battle unlike he’s ever faced in his life.

His spirit is lifted by the honor recently bestowed upon him, according to his boss.

Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney T. Wright Barksdale III knows he has a jewel of an investigator.

“Clay Wiggins has been one of the most important members of the district attorney’s office since I’ve been there,” Barksdale said in a recent interview with The Union-Recorder. “He has participated in just about every major trial that has occurred in the last 4 ½ years. We would not have been capable of doing some of the things that we did to ensure the safety of our community without his participation.”

Barksdale described Wiggins as an individual with a unique skill set, matched with an all-in determination.

“That work ethic and determination and God-given talent has made him one of the most valuable members of our team,” Barksdale said. “That’s really what I want people to know about Clay.”

Wiggins is the second investigator with the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office to be selected “Investigator of the Year by the District Attorney’s Association.”

Several years ago, Mark Robinson, who served as chief investigator under Barksdale and two other former district attorneys in the circuit, previously received the same recognition.

“Mark had a different skill set, but was equally valuable, especially in big cases,” Barksdale said.

When it comes to technical skills, Wiggins is extraordinary, he said.

“What Clay has done is redefine what it means to be the chief investigator for the district attorney’s office,” Barksdale said. “And what I mean is that when Mark Robinson was coming up, technology wasn’t as advanced, and what Mark brought to the table was his strong work ethic, and his organizational skills, especially on big cases, and his ability to talk and interview people.”

In today’s times, Barksdale said a district attorney needs an investigator who has a variety of technological skills.

“A prosecutor needs an investigator who can format all of those things in a way that prosecutors and jurors can see it and use it to help them make a determination of whether somebody is guilty or innocent,” Barksdale said. “And Clay’s skill set is a blend of being almost an expert in the areas of cellphones, computers and search engines. That particular skill set is something we’ve never had in the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office.”

Wiggins learned a lot from Robinson.

Barksdale said Wiggins learned things from Dawn Baskin, Mark’s wife, a former prosecutor who worked in the district attorney’s office, and many others, including himself.

“What Clay has been able to do over the years that he has worked in the district attorney’s office is how to try a case and what to look for,” Barksdale said. “He’s always had the technical skills.”

He has learned more with each case that he has worked.

“He has just added all of that to his repertoire, so to speak,” Barksdale said. “I’m not kidding when I say this about him. He is part of what has made me the prosecutor that I currently am today because we try these cases together. Clay is a unicorn. And I say that with love and respect. He is someone who can locate people, serve subpoenas and those kinds of things, but he also has the keen ability to understand the steps involved in prosecuting a case.”

Wiggins is the most beloved member of the Ocmulgee Circuit District Attorney’s Office, Barksdale said.

“He’s a fine human being,” said Wiggins’ boss and close friend.