Georgia men jailed in Alabama, charged in shooting deaths of two women over missing wallet
Two Georgia men are in the Cherokee County Jail, charged with capital murder in the deaths of two women — half-sisters Vanita Richardson and Truvenia Campbell — who were shot in May 2020 and found dumped off a bridge in Rome, Georgia.
Cherokee County Sheriff Jeff Shaver said Devon Lashawn Watts, 37, and Christopher Leedarius Pullen, 24, both of Rome, were booked into the Cherokee County Jail on Friday afternoon. A third suspect, Desmond Brown, has not been extradited to Alabama.
According to a story in The Rome News Tribune, the shootings occurred over a wallet.
The three men are accused of taking Richardson, 18, and Campbell, 30, in a car and driving into Alabama. They stopped and questioned the two women about the wallet. Brown wanted to search the women, suspecting they'd taken his wallet during a party earlier at his home. Campbell put up a fight.
She was shot several times, and then the younger sister was shot, police said.
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Investigators said the women's bodies were put into the trunk of the vehicle, and the men made stops at a Mapco on U.S. 411 to buy gloves, a Perrier water and a Black and Mild cigar. Police say the men made another stop to sell synthetic marijuana at an apartment complex.
The women's bodies were thrown from the U.S. 411 bridge, and were discovered early on May 13, 2020, by Georgia Department of Transportation crews getting ready for bridge inspection on the East Rome Bypass near Grizzard Park.
Brown would learn the women had not stolen the wallet, investigators said. His mother discovered it behind a television in his living room.
The three men were arrested days later on other charges, and were in jail while the investigation continued. The case was transferred when an investigation determined that the two women were shot in Cherokee County.
Contact Gadsden Times reporter Donna Thornton at 256-393-3284 or donna.thornton@gadsdentimes.com.
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Men accused of killing women in Alabama, dumping bodies in Georgia
