Daughter was acting to protect mother, according to sheriff's investigation. No charges will be filed.

An Upson County woman did what she had to do to protect her mother, who was being choked to the point of unconsciousness, according to an investigation conducted by the Upson County Sheriff's Department into a death reported the morning of Friday, Aug. 8.

David Wendall Mitchell, 44, was dead at the scene from a stab wound to the chest.

Major Dan Kilgore, chief deputy of the Upson County Sheriff's Department, said officers were called to 959 Rest Haven Road about 7:15 a.m. Friday.

Kilgore said the investigation shows that Mitchell, reportedly intoxicated, had been calling the house of his estranged wife, Rebecca Kay Mitchell, throughout the night. His calls were threatening in nature, but law enforcement wasn't alerted because the mother and daughter in the house said it was not uncommon for Mitchell to make such calls. At approximately 7 a.m., Mitchell, who was living in Barnesville, called to say he was turning into the driveway of the Rest Haven Road residence. Kilgore said skid marks were apparent on the property from Mitchell's car. The women inside the home called 911.

Mitchell entered the house by kicking in the door and first attacked his daughter, Deanna, 23. When the mother intervened, he attacked her, forced her to the floor and choked her violently, causing her to cry for help.

The daughter got a knife and intervened. Mitchell stood and turned on the young woman.

She stabbed him once in the chest. He pulled the knife from the wound and fell to the floor, where he was later pronounced dead.

"No charges have been filed in this unfortunate case and none are expected," Kilgore said. "Georgia law is clear about self-defense. People can act with deadly force when their own lives are threatened or they face serious injury, and when the life of another person is threatened."