A huge search was launched for missing student Anitra Gunn, whose body was found in woodland
It was the morning after Valentine’s Day in 2020 and Anitra Gunn was missing. The 22-year-old was an agriculture student at Fort Valley State University, Georgia, and was just months away from graduation. It was totally out of character for her not to reply to messages from friends and family.
She was last seen on the morning of 14 February. Her dad, Christopher Dunn, said he’d called her to wish her a happy Valentine’s Day but later, she stopped answering her phone. On 15 February, Christopher asked police to do a welfare check. Anitra wasn’t home but although her car was missing, there was no sign of a crime, so he made an official missing person’s report.
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A full-scale search began and pleas were put out to the public by police and her friends on social media. A task force was put together and the hunt even took to the skies with helicopters and drones. A reward was offered in exchange for any information that helped.
Anitra’s Chevrolet Cruze was finally found near her home. The bumper was missing, as though it had been in an accident. Her wallet was inside but not her phone – and there was no sign of the missing student. It had been four days now and everyone was concerned for her safety – especially when investigators uncovered problems in Anitra’s personal life.
Anitra had been dating Demarcus Little, a US army soldier stationed at Fort Gordon, and their relationship had been strained. Texts between them showed Anitra had been trying to break away but Little had threatened to end his life, saying it would be her fault. It was clear Anitra felt compelled to stay in touch.
On 5 February, Anitra had reported Little for slashing her tyres and throwing a brick through a window at her apartment.
BODY DUMPED IN WOODLAND
Little became a suspect and Anitra’s dad told police his daughter believed Little had been tracking her phone to find out where she was. But investigators needed more evidence. After all, Little was a churchgoing soldier with no criminal record.
Then, on 18 February, officers spotted tyre tracks in a remote wooded area in Crawford County, having been guided there by the sticks and grass in the grill of Anitra’s car. A search of the area led to the discovery of a woman’s body, partially covered with sticks. It was Anitra – and she had been strangled.
“The ray of sunshine and the apple of our eye gained her heavenly wings,” Anitra’s dad wrote on her tribute page as students organised a candlelight vigil in her memory.
Police charged Little with criminal damage to property over the tyre slashing and window breaking, and he was released on a $10,000 bond. The judge determined that he was a possible flight risk, so he was given a curfew and an ankle monitor. The community was not surprised when, later that day, Little was charged with murder. He denied killing Anitra.
Meanwhile, Anitra was buried back in Alabama, where her family celebrated her kindness and recalled how she would sing in church with a radiant smile on her face.
At Little’s trial in March this year, the prosecution said he had strangled Anitra on 14 February 2020, then dumped her remains in the woodland. The court heard how Anitra’s body was found barefoot and dressed in denim shorts and a shirt. She had died from either hands or an arm around her neck. There were also bruises which suggested she could have been punched, plus signs she had tried to fight back.
Little’s prints were found in her car and a pair of his trainers were discovered covered in mud and leaves. In a shocking testimony, Little’s friend, Jaivon Abron, took the stand and revealed that Little had confessed to killing his girlfriend.
FRIEND’S SHOCK TESTIMONY
Jaivon said Little had told Anitra that he loved her but Pal she’d allegedly “laughed in his face”, which angered him. “I don’t know what happened,” Little had apparently told Jaivon. “I had to get rid of her.”
He’d gone on to describe blacking out, hitting Anitra, grabbing her and choking her. Little had admitted his victim fought back but eventually gave up. Little had confessed when he made Jaivon go and collect the bumper. It had been ripped off the car when Little drove it to the woodland to dump Anitra’s body and he discarded it away from the scene.
Little took the stand and said Anitra was his “soulmate” and “meant everything” to him. But the prosecution said he was seeing other women at the time and reminded Little of his actions leading up Anitra’s death.
Little admitted he had slashed her tyres and broken her window, and that he’d threatened to kill himself and told her it would be her fault. But he insisted he wasn’t a killer. “I’m not the person that you’re making me out to be,” he said on the stand. “I’m not a monster. Because if I was a monster, she would have left me a long time ago.”
The defence said Little wasn’t the kind of person to commit murder because of the discipline from his time in the military. But the prosecution said Little’s relationship with Anitra had been “toxic” and filled with “control, threats and manipulation” that came to a head on Valentine’s Day.
“Demarcus had poured his heart out to Anitra and she spurned him,” the prosecution said. “She laughed. Demarcus Little then struck Anitra and choked her – choked her to death and strangled her with his hands.”
After a seven-day trial and just two hours of deliberation, Little was found not guilty of malice murder but guilty of felony murder and aggravated assault. The judge heard impact statements from Anitra’s family.
“The defendant’s decision to put his hands around Anitra Gunn’s neck and watch the life leave her body, and take the life of a human being with no regards for the effects it may have on others, is unimaginable and very devastating,” said her godmother. “The name of Anitra Gunn will not go away. We as a family will make sure of that.”
Little was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole.
After all her suffering at his hands, Anitra could not have relished the idea of seeing Little on Valentine’s Day – nor could she have imagined what he would do to his “soulmate”.