Umm Kulthum Abdulkareem

On the evening of 14th of February, 2020, in Fort Valley, Georgia, where everyone was getting ready to go out for Valentine’s Day, a dead body was being dumped in the woods. What started as a calm and quiet day would soon be filled with tension. A young woman, who had been full of life just the day before, had suddenly gone silent. Anitra Gunn, a bright, young college student with a promising future, was supposed to celebrate love like everyone else with her boyfriend. But as the sun rose, friends and family began to worry, calls went unanswered, and those who knew her could sense something was wrong. She had met a cruel, unexpected fate. Her boyfriend, DeMarcus Little would end up taking her life on this very special day. This is the tragic story of Anitra Gunn, a woman who loved and lost quite literally. As we remember Anitra Gunn and tell her tragic tale, we extend our deepest condolences to her family, friends, and loved ones. Also, we would like to take this crime case as a close reminder to everyone, to be careful with who we trust. This story would take us to Fort Valley, Georgia. A small city located in the central part of Peach County which is known as the peach capital of the world and is the largest peach-producing area. Anitra Gunn was born on the 6th of November 1997 making her 23-year-old at the time of her demise. She was raised by her father Christopher Gunn and they lived in Georgia Atlanta along with her younger brother Anthoine. In 2012 Anitra’s mother sadly passed away, leaving her father to raise Anitra and her younger brother alone. She graduated from Westlake High in 2016, and moved to Fort Valley where she would further her education, at the Fort Valley State University to study veterinary technology, which she would later change to an agriculture major. Apart from being a full-time student, She had a part-time job as a server at the 1836 restaurant, to make more money on the side. Despite her busy schedule, Anitra still managed to have a great social life, she enjoyed attending parties, dressing up, and looking good. She even loved playing video games, and because of her generally sweet personality, she made friends easily. Earlier on in 2020, Anitra was a senior and was looking forward to her graduation in winter. She thought about the kind of life she wanted to build for herself after college, and had been applying to various jobs. The hard-working 23-year-old was celebrating milestones and looking forward to the future, that is, until her life got cut short. During Anitra’s College life, she met a guy named Demarcus Little who had grown up in Fort Valley, and had lost his mother in an early year to colon cancer, in 2005. He was raised by his father and stepmother and had two sisters, who he loved very dearly. In 2016 he joined the army and in 2019 moved to Fort Eisenhower formerly known as Fort Gordon in Augusta. He was also a young U.S. Army sergeant serving and helping to protect the country which would be a big green flag to Anitra when they met. People in the U.S. Army are well respected, because of the discipline it takes to go on assignments serving one’s country. After getting to know each other for a bit, they hit it off and their relationship seemed to be going well, Or so she thought. After the initial phase of the relationship where everything was rosy, Anitra began to see different sides of Little, she noticed that he was mentally unstable, had a bad temper, frequently burst into fits of rage, and was generally toxic. Friends of Anitra recall that Demarcus would frequently show signs of jealousy and insecurity. These behaviors escalated over time, making the relationship more volatile. Anitra, like many in abusive situations, tried to navigate the difficulties, likely hoping that things would get better. But the tension only grew. Like many victims of toxic relationships, Anitra found herself trapped in a cycle of emotional manipulation. He called her his soulmate, but his actions said otherwise. There were times she tried to break free, but each time, Demarcus pulled her back, tightening his grip, using fear, guilt, and aggression to keep her close. In November 2019, she decided that she was ready to leave the relationship, Anitra sent Demarcus a text with details regarding her frustrations about his character and how the relationship had begun to take a toll on her. At this stage, she was about to graduate so she probably wanted to let go of every possible distraction and hindrance to her academic and personal growth. She explained that she didn't think they were a good fit anymore and suggested they both move on. Demarcus receives this text and instead starts emotionally blackmailing Anitra saying he loved her and that he would commit suicide if she left him. It's no surprise that he didn't kill himself. Reports indicate that he struggled to accept the breakup and continued to try and exert control over her life. Friends described how he would still try to contact her, often attempting to manipulate her into returning to him. Eventually, they began talking again and the back and forth continued, but this wasn't just bickering, it turned very aggressive. He would bombard her with phone calls, sometimes over 50 in a single day, demanding her attention, and questioning her every move. If she didn’t answer, he would show up uninvited. Once, he even planned to pay someone $200 to beat up her new boyfriend. On the 5th of February 2020, Anitra reported to the police that the back and side windows of her apartment had been smashed with a brick, she also claimed that the tires of her car had been slashed. When Anitra was asked if she knew who did this she said “no” and that she “hadn’t had any issues with anyone lately”. At this point, the two had a strange on-and-off relationship, so she may not have known that he was the one who did this to her. It is uncertain, if they reconciled over the days between the 5th of February to the 14th but the night before she went missing, Anitra along with a couple of her girlfriends had attended a house party, she coincidentally bumps into Demarcus and his good friend Javion, and at 11 pm decides to leave with a friend of hers named Tracy King. Javion chooses to drive all of them home and at 2 am he drops off Demarcus and Anitra at her house on West Church Street. After they were separated from Tracy and Javon, within the early hours of Valentine’s Day Anitra and Demarcus were spotted together at Waffle House at around 11 am. But soon we would realize that was the time anyone would see Anitra alive. When they left the Waffle House, Demarcus took Anitra to his aunt's house, since neither he nor the aunt were strangers to her she did not feel the need to be suspicious, I mean, this was someone she shared a romantic bond with despite his aggressive side. After they got to the house, he confronted her and told her about how he felt she had not been faithful to him, he expressed that he loved her so much and the thought of losing her killed him. These expressions of love made Anitra laugh as she found them funny, Demarcuas being the unstable person he is, grabs her and begins to strangle her to the point where she stops breathing. He had killed her in a fit of rage. After realizing what he had done, Demarcus didn’t call for help. He didn’t try to save her. Instead, he went into damage control. He puts her body in the trunk of her car and drives off towards Crawford County, where he hid her body in the woods. He drove so recklessly that the front bumper of the car fell off, and then took her car back to West Church Street but parked it a few blocks away from her house. He then calls his friend Javon to give him a lift from Fort Valley and they drive off to the outskirts of Crawford in search for Anitra’s bumper, that was when Javon saw her dead body hidden in the woods, In a state of fright he suggested to stay in the car and expressed that he did not want to be involved with anything that had to do with the crime. Demarcus explained the details of what had happened earlier that day to his friend and he would later find part of the front bumper. He and Javon drove further and disposed of it in a ditch of another roadway. Meanwhile, Anitra’s dad had reached out to wish her a happy Valentine’s Day but he received no response, her father told Anitra’s brother to call her but she was also not responding to his calls either. Before resorting to any drastic measures he asked family and some of her friends if they had been able to reach her but no one had heard from her. Before leaving Atlanta, he called the police, and asked them to check on Anitra’s house in case she may be there but when the police checked, the house looked normal, empty but normal. On the 15th of February, Anitra’s father drove to Fort Valley and filed a missing report for his daughter, A task force was created by the Fort Valley Police and Peach County Sheriff's Office to aid in the search for Anitra Gunn, with support from the Georgia State Patrol and GBI using helicopters for an aerial sweep. Peach County police even released photos of Anitra's car, noting that its missing front bumper might hold clues to her whereabouts. They asked the public to help them find it. Soon after, two dozen volunteers who just wanted to help find Anitra joined in searching near her boyfriend's aunt's house on Chestnut Hill Road, the last place she was seen. On the 18th of February, Crimestoppers announced a $5,000 reward for any leads regarding Anitra Gunn's disappearance. Peach County investigators searched a property in Taylor County after receiving an anonymous tip about a vehicle connected to the case, allegedly spotted near Demarcus’s aunt's residence. Despite thorough searches, no crucial evidence was uncovered. But soon, the police would find a lead that would confirm Anitra’s demise. Later that afternoon, the GBI confirmed that Anitra's body had been located near the Peach-Crawford county border. Her boyfriend DeMarcus Little was identified as a "person of interest," and arrested for another incident. Remember how Anitra reported that her apartment had been vandalized on the 5th of February, the police arrested Little for those charges. On the 19th, The police officially identified the remains as those of Anitra Gunn. Her father, Christopher, issued a statement expressing gratitude to everyone who helped in the search. He requested privacy and continued prayers for the family. On the 21st, Demarcus was asked to appear in a Peach County courtroom at 1 p.m. for a bond hearing related to property damage charges. Remember that he was initially charged with criminal damage to property for allegedly smashing Gunn’s apartment windows and slashing her car’s tires. However, he was soon hit with the additional charge of Murder at 5:30 pm just hours after his bond was set at $10,000. Little’s father said that his son did not kill Anitra, and praised him for being a good person. He was confident that when the case got to the court, his son would be found innocent because he did not do the “incident”. Andre Little, DeMarcus’s father also said that his son was so sad that he would not be able to attend Anitra’s funeral and he was someone who always stayed out of trouble. On the first day of the trial, jurors listened to witnesses recount Anitra Gunn's final moments. According to the prosecution's opening statement, Anitra laughed at Demarcus Little in the early hours of Valentine’s Day 2020 when he expressed his love for her. This, according to Assistant DA Neil Halvorson, provoked Demarcus to strangle her. Halvorson mentioned that Little later confessed the crime to his best friend, Jaivon Abron. The jurors were presented with the timeline of Anitra and Demarcus' complicated relationship. The state brought forth 11 witnesses, including officers involved in the investigation and a woman who saw Anitra’s missing car parked near her home. Testimonies also detailed Demarcus’ admission to police about the constant ‘on again, off again’ nature of his relationship with Anitra and how he had voluntarily confessed to damaging her property to the Fort Valley police. Demarcus Little's high school friend, Jaivon Abron, delivered a startling testimony in court, recounting how Little confessed to the murder of Anitra Gunn. Javion explained that it began when Demarcus picked him up for a party, and the events of the weekend spiraled from there. His testimony revealed disturbing details about the crime, with the graphic nature of the confession requiring viewer discretion. The court also saw text messages dating back to four months before her death. The messages detail their break-up in Nov. 2019 and the chaotic back-and-forth that followed. Just five days later, Demarcus and Anitra were texting again. This time, he was questioning Anitra's relationship with another man. Then on January 13, 2020, text messages reveal Anitra's distress over her relationship with Demarcus again. Even in the heat of the moment, Demarcus still kept a level-headed performance, he took a stand to prove his innocence and had hoped to convince the jury that he wasn't Anitra’s killer. He called her his soulmate and said he loved her and would never kill her. However, Prosecutor Dawn Baskin challenged him while he was on that notion. She kept circling back to the phone location evidence that proved he killed Anitra, drove her car into the woods off Greer Road, and dumped her body. He could not explain the evidence, or say it was wrong. After a week of testimony and three hours of deliberation, the jury found Demarcus guilty of murder for the February 2020 death of Anitra Gunn. The trial revealed detailed evidence, including phone location data, text messages, and key witness testimonies from Anitra’s best friend, Demarcus’s aunt, his best friend, and Demarcus himself. Although Demarcus was found not guilty of malice murder, he was convicted of felony murder and aggravated assault. After the verdict, Anitra’s family shared their sorrow, emphasizing the devastating impact of Demarcus’s actions. Her godmother stated, “The defendant's decision to put his hands around Anitra’s neck and watch life leave her body is unimaginable and devastating.” She vowed to keep Anitra’s name alive in memory. The Assistant District Attorney urged Judge Connie Williford to impose the harshest penalty, describing the horrific state in which Anitra’s body was found. He argued that just as Anitra would never breathe again, Demarcus should never be free to breathe "free air" again. However, Judge Williford sentenced Demarcus to life in prison without the possibility of parole, ensuring he would spend the rest of his life behind bars. The death of Anitra Gunn touched the lives of not only her family but so many people, she would always be remembered for her charismatic nature and smile. During her funeral service, we hear remarks about her life from her loved ones. Fort valley’s mayor was also present during the wake where she gave her condolences to Anitra’s family, she expressed how she could relate to Anitra’s father's condition as a wife who had lost her husband, a mother who lost her son and a grandmother who lost her grandson. She praised Anitra’s infectious smile and energy and stated that she would miss receiving her bubbly welcome anytime she went to the Eighteen 36 restaurant. The staff of the Eighteen 36 restaurant was also seen in mourning, the owner of the restaurant along with her co-workers was shocked by the news of her unusual disappearance and death. According to her boss, Anitra was supposed to have been working from noon on Valentine’s Day but when she didn't show up he found it strange as she never missed her shift without prior notice. We would also see a series of remembrance events hosted by the Fort Valley State University in honor of their student and class-mate, from Candlelight Night Vigils to Balloon releases. The Memory of Anitra will forever be left in the hearts of those close to her. Her story should be a reminder to trust warning signs and to stay away from toxic people regardless of what kind of relationship you share with them. It’s easy to hear stories like Anitra’s and think, “That could never happen to me.” But the truth is, it can happen to anyone. What are your thoughts on this case? Should Anitra have gotten a restraining order when DeMarcus would not leave her alone? What do you believe could have been done differently to prevent this tragedy? Thank you so much once again for watching another video by Wednesday Crime, if you like the way we bring to your stories or you learned something new today, please like this video and consider subscribing to the channel if you haven’t yet. As always, remember to leave your thoughts in the comments section below perhaps someone learns from your experience or advice. I will talk to you again in another video, it's a bye for now. REFERENCES. https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/local/anitra-gunn-case-demarcus-little-trial-verdict-recap/93-832f4e47-e947-44e-fae5fb578 https://www.macon.com/news/local/crime/article-.html