The body of Georgia college student Anitra Gunn was found on Tuesday after she was first reported missing by her father on February 15. Gunn’s body was discovered by investigators around 3:20 p.m. on February 18 about 150 yards from the road near the Crawford-Peach County lines — roughly two miles from where she was last seen.
The search for Gunn began after her family contacted police saying they had not heard from her for an “unusual amount of time,” said the Fort Valley Police Department. Gunn, an agriculture student from Fort Valley State University, was last seen near her boyfriend’s aunt’s house on February 14. After she stopped responding to calls and texts from friends and family, police went to her apartment for a welfare check. Authorities reported that nothing in her apartment seemed out of place or would lead them to believe a struggle occurred. But, her family suspected something was wrong. “She never texted them back, didn’t call them back. That’s when we knew something is definitely out of whack,” her father, Christopher Gunn, told CBS local affiliate WMAZ. Gunn last spoke to his daughter on February 14 to wish her a happy Valentine’s Day.
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On February 15, the following day, police found Gunn’s car near her apartment in Fort Valley, GA in a neighbor’s yard with the front bumper missing. Peach County Sheriff Terry Deese said bushes and sticks found in the grill of Gunn’s car the day she was reported missing led investigators to narrow down the search area. At the time, Deese told WMAZ that he and his team believed the missing bumper was “very important.”
After three days of searching, a body was found by investigators that they later confirmed was Anitra Gunn. The missing bumper was also found nearby the day her body was discovered. According to Deese, Gunn's body appeared partially covered “as if someone tried to hide it,” he told local CBS affiliate WMAZ during a news conference Tuesday evening.
No arrests have been made in relation to the case; however, Gunn’s boyfriend, DeMarcus Little, was brought in by the Peach County Sheriff’s Department for a third interview. Little reportedly smashed the windows of Gunn's apartment and slashed the tires of her car earlier in February. In Tuesday evening’s news conference, Sheriff Deese said Gunn’s boyfriend is considered a person of interest in the case. Currently, he has not been arrested or charged.
Gunn’s cause of death has also not yet been made public and law enforcement is keeping many details about the investigation private while they await an autopsy report from the medical examiner in Macon, GA. Investigators estimated the autopsy would be completed by midday February 19 at the earliest.
At the time she was reported missing, Fort Valley State University representatives released a statement to CNN which read: "Fort Valley State University is deeply concerned about the well-being of our student Anitra Gunn, and we are praying for her safe return. FVSU is working closely with the Fort Valley Police Department, which is investigating Anitra's disappearance."
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