Latest / The Mind of a Man / She Laughed in His Face on Valentine_s Day_ The Murder of Anitra Gunn [True Crime Documentary]

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She Laughed in His Face on Valentine_s Day_ The Murder of Anitra Gunn [True Crime Documentary] · The Mind of a Man

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: In the winter of 2020 in Fort Valley, Georgia, university
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: senior Anitra Gunn was looking forward to graduating. While still
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: studying and working part-time, the thoughtful and hardworking 23-year-old was
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: lighting up job interviews and celebrating milestones with friends. All
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: of this came to an abrupt end on Valentine's Day
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: when friends began reporting strange messages received from Anitra's phone,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: followed by silence. Her distressed father rushed from Atlanta while
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: a task force was formed to search for her. The
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: sheriff declared that no stone would be left unturned as
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: they put together all the pieces and sought justice for
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Anitra Gunn. Hi there, I'm Kevin and welcome to Just
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Thought Lounge. Today's case is about a murder in Georgia
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: just a few years ago that shook the local community
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: to the core. It's a cautionary tale, one that resonates
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: with many who have seen these warning signs before. Let's
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: take a look. In the winter of 2020, 23-year-old Anitra
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Gunn was a senior at Fort Valley State University in
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Fort Valley, Georgia. She was a graduate of West Lake
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: High School in Atlanta. After the death of her mother
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: when she was still a child, Anitra and her younger
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: brother had been raised by their father, Christopher Gunn. In 2016,
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Anitra had relocated to Fort Valley to study agriculture at FVSU.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Between full-time study and a part-time job as a server
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: at 1836 Restaurant and Lounge, Anitra kept busy. The fun-loving
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: and kind-hearted senior also maintained an active social life, and
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: she was always in contact with her family, including her father,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: back in Atlanta. On the morning of February 14th, Valentine's Day,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Anitra's best friend, Sierra Stewart, awoke late to a series
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: of messages from her friend. The exchange began pleasantly. They
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: sent Happy Valentine's Day greetings. But then Sierra began to
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: receive a few uncharacteristic messages. Texts from her phone stated
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: that she was looking to hook up with someone she
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: just called Dude. Anitra was known to be in only
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: one relationship, an on-again and off-again romance with 22-year-old U.S.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Army Sergeant Demarcus Little. But her message implied it was
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: someone else that she was about to meet up with.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: Sierra was supportive of her friend, and she was not
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: a fan of Demarcus Little. He was trouble, and their
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: relationship was unstable. Over the next few hours, Sierra would
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: grow increasingly more concerned for Anitra. By midday, she had
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: been contacted by a mutual friend named David Howard. She
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: knew him as Scoot. Had she heard from Anitra, Scoot asked.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: He had also been receiving strange messages from her that morning,
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: and DeMarcus claimed he was no longer with her and
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: had no idea where she was. Something was not right.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Sierra phoned Christopher Gunn in Atlanta. Before he set out
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: from Atlanta, Christopher Gunn requested a check on his daughter's
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: home on West Church Street. Fort Valley police found no
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: one at the house. Anitra's car, a 2013 white Chevy Cruze,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: was also missing. By that time, the strange messages from
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Anitra's phone had ceased. They began with texts to Scoot
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: around 8.30am, messages to Sierra about the unknown man between
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: 10 and 11am, and then the phone went quiet. Messages
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: from concerned family and friends came in, but no responses
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: were received. When Christopher arrived in Fort Valley, he formally
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: filed a missing persons report. A task force was formed,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: consisting of the Fort Valley Police, the Peach County Sheriffs,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: and the GBI, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Anitra's last
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: confirmed location was the house of her boyfriend's aunt on
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: Chestnut Hill Road. The two had spent the night of
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: February 13th at the house. He was the last person
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: to see Anitra before she disappeared. Due to this, DeMarcus
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Little became a suspect to the media and the public immediately.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: This is the Last place she was seen Thursday night
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: about 11 30. The aunt confirmed she was here with
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: her boyfriend. It's the last place she was seen. So
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: what we're doing today is basically we're fixing to search
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: this house to make sure there's nothing there that we
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: need to see and we're just going to start from
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: here and work our way out. You know we've got
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: the GSP helicopter flying the woods just looking for anything
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: we could find. Right now, everybody that knew her is
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: a person of interest until we kind of whittled that
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: list down. Has the boyfriend been questioned? Yes, ma'am. He's
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: not in custody, is he? No, ma'am.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: The night before she went missing, Anitra attended a house
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: party with a couple of girlfriends. When she left at
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: roughly 11 p.m., however, she did so with one of
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: her girlfriends, Tracy King, as well as her sometimes boyfriend,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: Demarcus Little, and his good friend, Javon Abram. The group
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: traveled to Demarcus' home for a few hours. At sometime
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: past 2 a.m., Javon dropped Anitra and Demarcus off at
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: her house on West Church Street so that she could
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: retrieve her car. The couple separated from their other friends
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: at that point and went to a Waffle House. Afterwards,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: they traveled back to the house on Chestnut to stay
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: the night. DeMarcus told police that he last saw Anitra
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: leaving at about 11.30am the next day. She told him
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: that she had a job interview, so he assumed that
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: was her destination when she left. Anitra did have an
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: interview scheduled that day, at 9.30am. Had she left the
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: house when DeMarcus claimed she had, she would have already
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: been two hours late. 22-year-old Demarcus Little was picked up
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: outside of the house and brought in for questioning. His vehicle,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: a 2019 black Toyota Corolla with red pinstripes, was towed
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: off the property for a forensic examination. Demarcus was an
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: Army sergeant who had grown up in Fort Valley. He
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: joined the Army back in 2016, but in December 2019
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: had moved to Fort Eisenhower. at the time known as
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Fort Gordon, in Augusta. There, he worked as a unit
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: supply specialist. He and Anitra had been an item for
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: some time. At first, it had seemed to be a
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: great match. Demarcus, just like Anitra, had lost his mother
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: when he was young. He was raised by his father
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: and stepmother. He had two sisters whom he adored and
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: a generally close-knit family. With a burgeoning career in the military,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: DeMarcus appeared on paper to be a great catch. But
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: as investigators began speaking with those closest to Anitra, they
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: learned that the relationship had been a toxic one for months.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: This view was not shared by those close to DeMarcus.
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: Anitra's 2013 white Chevy Cruze was located only a few
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: blocks away from her house, its front bumper missing.
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: There was mud and other debris stuck to the tires.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Just the day before, Javon had collected his friend Demarcus
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: from a location nearby and had pointed out the car
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: to him. Isn't that Anitra's car?
• 8:46
  Speaker 5: He asked.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: Demarcus blew him off. Of course it wasn't, he said.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: Her wallet and keys were inside the vehicle. Curiously, her
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: cell phone was not. Processing of the car found Demarcus'
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: finger and palm prints inside and on the trunk. An
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: examination of his vehicle similarly returned DNA from Anitra. Given
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: that the two had been romantically linked for months, these
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: results were not surprising. What was unexpected was DeMarcus' claim,
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: made 24 hours into the search for his ex-girlfriend, that
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: he just remembered that Anitra had accidentally shared her phone
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: location with him the day before. He said her device
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: had pinged not far from her home on West Church
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: It showed at a location on South Camellia Boulevard. When
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: Officer Whitehead of the Fort Valley Police checked his device
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: for this information, however, he found that was not the case.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: Her phone had actually pinged roughly five minutes further south
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: of Camellia Road, on Carver Drive. There, tucked into the
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: end of a drainage pipe, police retrieved Anitra's cell phone.
• 10:00
  Speaker 5: Phone.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: The county, city, and state task force continued their search
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: spanning from Chestnut Drive through rain and shine. When the
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: weather turned rough, they kept the helicopters out of the air,
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: but deputies continued to navigate dense areas of woodland on
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: the ground. A Peach County Sheriff's deputy was patrolling the
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: area when he spotted a path leading off of the
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: main roadway, which appeared to have been disturbed by a
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: vehicle driving down it towards the trees. He got out
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: of his car and explored the path on foot. A
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: few minutes into the walk, there were more indications of
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: a vehicle swiping nearby trees and damaging the vegetation. Under
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: a light covering of tree limbs and other brush, the
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: deputy discovered the body of a young woman. It had
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: been poorly concealed amongst the trees. Near to the deceased
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: were damaged car parts, namely part of a bumper from
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: what appeared to be a 2013 white Chevy Cruze.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: Today at 319... Uh, deputies and members of the task
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: force were out riding because of the weather. We couldn't
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: get the helicopter up, so they were just riding looking. Uh,
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: we had an idea of the, the bushes and sticks
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: that were in the front of the grill of her car. Uh,
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: so the deputies were kind of looking for those areas, uh,
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: the area he found her at. He saw something similar,
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: a little roadway going down into the woods. rode down
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: into the car, wouldn't go anymore because of the rain,
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: about 150 yards off the roadway. He found the piece
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: of the car, part of the car piece that we've
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: been looking for, found Miss Gunn laying very close to
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: part of that front bump.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: How long do you have any persons of interest?
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: I think it's pretty common sense who our person of
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: interest is. Can you say it though out loud? It's
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: the boyfriend. We've talked to him three times.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: An autopsy would find that Anitra had been strangled. There
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: were also indications that she had been struck at least
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: once in the head and that her body had likely
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: been dragged into the position where she was found. On Wednesday,
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: February 19th, only a few days after Anitra was located,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: DeMarcus Little was arrested. However, he was not at that
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: stage charged with murder. Property was damaged at Anitra's house
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: roughly two weeks before she was killed. It was on
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: this charge that he was arraigned. At about 3 a.m.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: on February 5th, Anitra and her friend Scoot, who was
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: staying over at the house, were both awoken by a
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: loud shattering noise. Initially believing that one of the pets
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: had caused the disturbance, they ignored it. The next morning
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: after Scoot walked home, Anitra called the police to report
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: that the tires on her car had been slashed and
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: bricks had been thrown through two windows of the house.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: She told law enforcement that she did not know who
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: could have done it, though it was actually the second
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: time that someone had pierced her tires in the night.
• 13:25
  Speaker 6: Basically, uh, You know, we're here today for a granted
• 13:35
  Speaker 6: bond here for a criminal damage to property, and we're
• 13:38
  Speaker 6: just glad that he was granted bond for that particular matter,
• 13:41
  Speaker 6: you know, so he can get back to his career
• 13:43
  Speaker 6: in the United States Army. But before, it just hurt
• 13:47
  Speaker 6: me to see him come in the shackles like that,
• 13:48
  Speaker 6: like he's a criminal. My son's never done anything anymore.
• 13:53
  Speaker 6: He didn't do this incident. I can sympathize with the family.
• 13:56
  Speaker 6: I truly do. I have daughters. I even have one
• 13:59
  Speaker 6: in college that I met. Something like that wouldn't happen
• 14:02
  Speaker 6: to her. I would be devastated. But my son didn't
• 14:05
  Speaker 6: do this. He was raised the right way. He's not violent,
• 14:08
  Speaker 6: never been in a fight, never having a criminal background.
• 14:11
  Speaker 6: He's a good kid, a good soul, serving our country proudly.
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: Does it annoy you that he's a person of interest?
• 14:19
  Speaker 6: It mostly annoys me how certain media and social media
• 14:23
  Speaker 6: and certain people in society have destroyed him and slammed
• 14:27
  Speaker 6: his name. They don't really know the real Demarcus Little.
• 14:30
  Speaker 6: The real Demarcus Little is a very humble young man.
• 14:34
  Speaker 6: He made sergeant three years in the United States Army.
• 14:36
  Speaker 6: He doesn't have anything on his background, any blemishes, nothing.
• 14:41
  Speaker 6: Nobody can say nothing bad about my son. He's been
• 14:44
  Speaker 6: here on this earth 22 years, and can't no one
• 14:47
  Speaker 6: say anything terrible about my son.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Demarcus eventually admitted to police that he had slashed Denitra's
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: tires and thrown bricks at her house. He had reacted
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: in a rage when he discovered that she had a
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: man staying overnight. Throughout this, he maintained his innocence of
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: the murder. The army sergeant was offered a $ 10, 000 bond
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: and release with an ankle monitor, but he would be
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: charged with malice murder only hours later, before he could
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: be released from the county jail. And he wasn't alone.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: His longtime friend, Javon Abram, was arrested as well, on
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: two counts of giving false statements to law enforcement, and
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: one count of concealing a death. When DeMarcus went to
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: trial in March 2022 at a Peach County courthouse, it
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: was his former friend who he had claimed was like
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: a brother to him who had become the star witness.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: Javon will tell you that DeMarcus Lillard then struck a
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: detruth paper.
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: And choked it.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: Defense attorney Benjamin Davis argued that Demarcus Little was not
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: the kind of person who could commit murder. He was
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: an upstanding and humble man, a soldier serving his country. Conversely,
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: prosecutor Neil Halverson described an at times toxic relationship between
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: Demarcus and Anitra filled with control, threats, manipulation, and possessiveness
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: on his part. The romance that had first appeared so
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: perfect on paper had become a nightmare from which Anitra
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: could not escape. Days at trial were spent reading the
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: couple's messages, exchanged over months leading up to her death.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: Anitra described him as an evil, manipulative person. Anitra wrote
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: that she was tired of Demarcus's threats and abuse and
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: She tried to distance herself from him, but over and
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: over again, he worked his way back in. His messages
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: repeatedly accused Anitra of being with another man. On November 1st,
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: Anitra wrote that they should stop speaking to each other altogether.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: She told him that every time they talk, she ends
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: up being manipulated. Days later, Demarcus threatened suicide. He blamed
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: her for pushing him to that point. Then he went
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: silent for hours as Anitra reached out, concerned for his welfare. Eventually,
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: Demarcus replied to Anitra, telling her that his attempt on
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: his life did not work. But his manipulative tactics did.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: Within days of this alleged attempt on his life, the
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: line of communication between the two reopened. On Anitra's birthday
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: in November, he told her that he was sparing the
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: man that he believed she was going out with that night.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: The two had broken up at that point. Nonetheless, DeMarcus
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: threatened any man he believed she was spending time with.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: He even sent her a screenshot of a message he
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: wrote to an unknown individual, offering them $ 200 to harm
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: Anitra's alleged date. He told her, At times, he threatened
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: her life directly. stating that his mercy has limits after
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: he accused her again of texting with another man. David
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: Scoot Howard was a barber across the street from the
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: 1836 restaurant and lounge where Anitra worked as a server.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: The 21-year-old lived in his family home only a few
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: doors down from Anitra's house on West Church Street. Scoot
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: told the jury that on the morning of February 14th,
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: He was at home and he realized that he may
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: have left his second cell phone at Anitra's house the
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: night before. Scoot needed the phone for work, so he
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: messaged Anitra, asking if she could look for it. The
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: response he received back was bizarre. The text from Anitra's
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: phone said to send his location and she would drive
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: over to him at his house. Scoot testified that his
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: home was so close to Anitra's that if he were
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: to stand at the end of his driveway, he could
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: clearly see Anitra's front door. She knew where he lived
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: and she certainly did not need to drive.
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: When you're getting this message, what were you thinking?
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: He tried calling her, but she didn't pick up. Scoot
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: received messages stating that she just couldn't talk at the moment.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: Then to add to his confusion, the following message seemed
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: to be trying to break up with him. That was fine,
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: he said, but the two were not involved. Scoot said
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: they had only hung out a couple of times. He
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: hesitated to even categorize them as friends because they were
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: just getting to know each other. When the person with
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: her phone asked again for his address, he responded that
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: he wanted no part in whatever was going on. By
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: this time, Scoot was standing outside of his house. The
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: person with Anitra's phone said they were on their way
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: to him and to wait out front. He watched as
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: a 2019 black Toyota Corolla with red pinstripes circled the
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: block five or maybe six times. Concerned, he messaged Sierra Stewart.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: He informed her of the strange messages coming from Anitra's
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: phone and texted over the license plate number of the
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: black Corolla. Police would later match this tag to DeMarcus
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: Little's vehicle. On the afternoon of Sunday, February 16th, Javon
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: Abram and Demarcus Little left church together and went for
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: a drive. While in the car, Javon told the jury
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: that Demarcus freely confessed to him that he had strangled
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: Anitra in the night. He had poured his heart out
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: to her, he said. He told her that they were
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: soulmates and how much he loved her. In response, he said,
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: she had laughed at him. In the moments that followed,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: he claimed to have blacked out. The next morning, he
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: had disposed of her body in the woods.
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: I don't know what happened. I just blacked out. And
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: I don't hear it. And it was like.
• 22:03
  Speaker 5: He told you that he had pulled his heart out
• 22:07
  Speaker 5: to you, is that right?
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: Yes ma'am. And that he drove a laptop, correct?
• 22:35
  Speaker 5: Yes, ma'am. And that he had hit her? Yes, ma'am.
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: And that he started to choke her?
• 22:43
  Speaker 5: Yes, ma'am.
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: And that she fought at first, correct?
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: Yes, ma'am.
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: And then he said to you that it looked like
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: she just gave up because she wanted.
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: To be with her mother?
• 22:54
  Speaker 5: Yes, ma'am.
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: And that's her mother who's dead?
• 22:59
  Speaker 5: Yes, ma'am.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: Javon came to realize that the following day, when he
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: had picked up his friend near to where Anitra's car
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: would be found, that he had assisted in covering up
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: the murder. DeMarcus told him that he had placed her
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: in the trunk of her car and then drove out
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: towards Crawford County. The front bumper fell off in the
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: rough terrain. Then he drove back to Fort Valley and
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: parked the car a few blocks from her house. From
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: that area, he called Javon for a ride, telling him
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: at the time, that the Chevy Cruze with the missing
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: bumper could not have been his ex-girlfriend's car. DeMarcus told
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: Javon that he kept Anitra's cell phone with him that morning,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: later disposing of it inside of a drainage pipe. Javon
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: recounted how they drove out to Greer Road at the
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: Peach County-Crawford County line where Anitra had been left. There,
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: he saw her body. In a state of shock, he
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: refused to get out of the vehicle. DeMarcus retrieved part
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: of the Chevy Cruze's front bumper, which sat nearby, and
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: asked Javon to help him push it into the trunk.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: They drove it further out and disposed of it in
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: a ditch off of another roadway. That portion of the
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: bumper was eventually located in the area where Javon stated
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: it would be. Further corroborating the friend's story was cell
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: phone location data. both his device and DeMarcus' phone, which
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: corresponded to the movements in Jayvon's version of events. This
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: data did not correspond to the story that DeMarcus Little
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: would tell the jury. Assistant District Attorney Don Baskin grilled
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: DeMarcus on the inconsistencies between his story and the cell
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: phone data. Location data placed him traveling from his aunt's
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: home at 420 Chestnut, to where Anitra was found off
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: of Greer Road at the county line on Valentine's Day.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: DeMarcus testified that his transaction data and location tracking on
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: either side of the hour he was in the woods
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: was accurate, but he was never in the area where
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: Anitra was found dead.
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: So every single cash location that we just talked about
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: accurately showed where you were.
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: Those were my whereabouts, but I didn't know where I
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: was going.
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: So those same cash locations show.
• 25:32
  Speaker 5: At 103, you driving on Tanglewood Road, headed toward Brewer Road.
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: Is that correct? So your phone went offline at that point?
• 25:49
  Speaker 5: And then those same cash locations, which were right, from
• 25:54
  Speaker 5: noon until one o'clock and from 2.20 for the rest
• 25:57
  Speaker 5: of the day, they then show you in the woods.
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: Off rear road, correct?
• 26:03
  Speaker 5: No.
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: They don't show you there? I wasn't in the woods.
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: That wasn't my question.
• 26:07
  Speaker 5: My question was, do those cash locations which you just
• 26:11
  Speaker 5: testified were absolutely accurate.
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: With regards to your whereabouts between 12 and 1 and 2.20.
• 26:17
  Speaker 4: To the rest of the night, those same cash.
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: Locations show you in the woods off the rear road,
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: don't they? Those were inaccurate.
• 26:26
  Speaker 4: Just those? Yes.
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: And your phone shows you going from 420 Chestnut Hill
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: Road to.
• 26:34
  Speaker 4: The woods off the rear road. Isn't that what happened, sir?
• 26:39
  Speaker 5: No.
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: And you got back.
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: In a nature's car and you drove it over ditches
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: and trees.
• 26:49
  Speaker 7: Causing the bumper to fall off, causing everything else.
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: To break apart, and you dumped your soulmate like garbage
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: in the middle of the.
• 26:58
  Speaker 4: Woods, didn't you, sir?
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: No way. Just like your phone said you did.
• 27:02
  Speaker 5: And then you drove back down her beaded car with
• 27:06
  Speaker 5: a missing bumper and a missing wheel well, and you
• 27:10
  Speaker 5: dumped her car just like you dumped her.
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: At the corner of Bell and Montrose, didn't you, sir?
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: No way.
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: Just like your phone said you did.
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: So your phone is.
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: Lying.
• 27:28
  Speaker 4: I don't think it's necessary.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: DeMarcus's timeline became exceptionally confused when he attempted to explain
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: where he was later in the morning of the 14th.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: At first, he told police that he had been at
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: home around 1130 a.m. when Anitra left his aunt's house
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: on Chestnut. His messages at that time to Sierra, however,
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: stated that he was out looking for Anitra. David Scoot
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: Howard also spotted his car circling the block in Fort
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: Valley around the same time.
• 28:03
  Speaker 4: What were you.
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: Doing driving in your car circling the block around where
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: David Howard lives between 11.30 and 12.15?
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: I told you I was looking for Anitra. Why did
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: she left you five minutes before? Because I want to
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: see if she looks at me.
• 28:27
  Speaker 7: So when Demetra left, you followed her?
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: I don't know. Is that time? That's so hard, isn't it?
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: You just told the jury a few minutes ago that
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: you were actually just hanging.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: Out at the house.
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: That didn't answer my question, sir. My question to.
• 28:51
  Speaker 5: You was, what did you do between 11 a.m. and 12.15?
• 28:55
  Speaker 5: I can't remember that.
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: You can't remember what.
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: You were doing?
• 29:03
  Speaker 4: I was at the house. So when you say, I'll
• 29:07
  Speaker 4: be back, you actually did leave the house then, correct?
• 29:10
  Speaker 4: I did leave the house.
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: And you did get in your car, and you did
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: drive repeatedly by.
• 29:17
  Speaker 5: David Howard to address.
• 29:23
  Speaker 4: Correct?
• 29:25
  Speaker 5: And you were doing that with Amitra's phone.
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: Correct?
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: It's weird because Amitra was texting David Howard at the
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: exact same time.
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: You don't drive around here. asking where he is and
• 29:41
  Speaker 4: what he looks like.
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: Isn't that weird?
• 29:44
  Speaker 4: It's like a coincidence. That's what we're reusing for.
• 29:46
  Speaker 7: Have you ever heard the old saying, the simplest explanation,
• 29:51
  Speaker 7: that you can be true?
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: The jury deliberated for about three hours. They had three
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: counts to consider, malice murder, felony murder, and aggravated assault.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: If the jury came to the conclusion that DeMarcus had
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: killed Anitra in a rage, they could apply the second count,
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: which is appropriate if the killer acted without intent. Either
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: murder count has the potential to carry the same sentence.
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: Camp 1, malice murder, read the jury, find DeMarcus Devante
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: Little not guilty.
• 30:33
  Speaker 4: For Camp 2, felony murder, read.
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: The jury, find DeMarcus Devante Little guilty. Camp 3, aggravated assault,
• 30:43
  Speaker 3: read the jury, find DeMarcus Devante Little guilty.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: Speaking about the case publicly following the verdict... Assistant District
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: Attorney Don Baskin described the concerns the state had held
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: when selecting jurors to hear the case. At the time,
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: there was worry that some in the jury pool would
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: be unable to place the blame for what had occurred
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: squarely at the feet of the abuser. The victim had
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: indeed returned to him on a number of occasions despite
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: his progressively more volatile behavior. Baskin described the process like
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: a frog in a pot of slowly boiling water. Had
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: Anitra been thrown right into the abuse, she would have
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: jumped right out. But as time went on, the manipulation
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: became an incremental cycle, finally escalating to very serious and
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: violent threats that would have otherwise have been enough for
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: her to get out and seek help.
• 31:44
  Speaker 7: The picture that we wanted to paint was that despite
• 31:46
  Speaker 7: the frustrating nature of domestic violence, especially from those of
• 31:49
  Speaker 7: us that are sitting on the outside, that is to
• 31:51
  Speaker 7: never give up, to keep fighting, to remind the individual
• 31:55
  Speaker 7: who's in the cycle that they're in a dangerous pot
• 31:58
  Speaker 7: of water and that it's going to come.
• 32:00
  Speaker 5: To a boil.
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: The state requested what they deemed the only appropriate sentence
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: for Anitra Gunn's murder. Life without the possibility of parole.
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: The judge agreed. In March of 2022, DeMarcus Little was
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: sent to prison for the rest of his natural life.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: That was the tragic case of Anitra Gunn. Thank you
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: so much for being here. I'm Kevin, this is Just
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: Thought Lounge, and I'll see you in the next one.
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: When the scene plays, tell me who to scream saves.
• 32:48
  Speaker 4: I can hear the cries repeat. Gotta take my time
• 32:51
  Speaker 4: because these crimes get deep. But these stories can't hide.
• 32:53
  Speaker 4: Let me find my seat. Kevin, go ahead and settle in.
• 32:55
  Speaker 4: Gotta be selective. Doing all the research. Keeping it objective.
• 32:59
  Speaker 4: Always been effective.
• 33:00
  Speaker 6: Can say he got a knack.
• 33:01
  Speaker 4: Pick of the litter.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: You see how Newton got his back.
• 33:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah, the content that you need.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: This could be a new sign.
• 33:06
  Speaker 4: We talk in the comments.
• 33:07
  Speaker 6: They jot in a few lines.
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: Tune in and hit like.
• 33:10
  Speaker 4: Love that.
• 33:10
  Speaker 7: It's too kind.
• 33:11
  Speaker 6: Feels like the whole world is online for true crime.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: Watch them on the run, but it's not a race.
• 33:15
  Speaker 4: Really hard to disappear