John Starlin was killed in 1906 in Graham County, NC. It is alleged that William Grayson Garrett killed him at the request of an unknown man in Georgia. This story is detailed in the Deaton Heritage Book:
![Image](http://www.deaton-family.com/Photos/JSD-DEATH.jpg)
Further research resulted in the following discovery. William Grayson Garrett was the son of James Marion Garrett and Martha Cantrell. Martha Cantrell was the sister of Eliza Cantrell. This made William Grayson Garrett and John Starlin Deaton first cousins.
John Starlin Deaton and Biddie L. Eller were married on 21 March 1886 in Towns County, Georgia. Biddie L. Eller, daughter of John Posey Eller and Malinda Adeline Nicholson, was born about 1870 in Towns County, Georgia. She died in 1900 in Towns County, Georgia.
Biddie L. Eller's first husband was John Robert Murphy. (1863-1889) whom she married on October 15, 1881, and divorced on March 23, 1885. The Towns County grand jury records for March term 1889 indicate that John Robert Murphy was killed by William Grayson Garrett as justifiable homicide. Biddie Eller and John Robert Murphy had one daughter Vinetta Fidelia Murphy (1883-1957) who married Joseph Sumlin Garrett.
John Starlin Deaton left Biddie L. Eller Murphy about 1890 and went to Graham County, NC, where he started another family. In June 1892, Biddie L. Eller Murphy Deaton had another child, Sylvester, who is living with his Eller grandparents in 1900 as Sylvester NICHOLS.
It is still not understood who the "man in Georgia" was who wanted John Starlin Deaton killed.
It is still not understood why William Grayson Garrett, first cousin to John Starlin Deaton, would kill him.
John Starlin is buried in the Garrett Family Cemetery in Unaka, Cherokee County, NC.