A missing wallet led gang members to abduct and murder two women whose bodies were found under a bridge with plastic bags tied over their heads.
Road crews found the bodies of Vanita Richardson, 19, and Truvenia “Bean” Campbell, 31, under a bridge in Rome, Georgia on May 13.
Nine people, including Desmond Brown, 28, and Devin Watts, 36, were arrested and charged in the case. Christopher Pullen and other gang members were also charged with two counts of felony murder each.
Georgia authorities believe Brown (left) accused the two women of stealing his wallet, which led to the murders. Watts (center) and Pullen (right) are pictured in booking photos.
GBI Special Agent Ghee Wilson testified that Brown accused the women of stealing his wallet after he attended a birthday party. Brown, Watts, Pullen and fellow gang members then lured the women into a car and confronted them about the missing wallet after driving to Alabama, The Rome News-Tribune reported.
The women were killed on the way back to Rome, the News-Tribune reports.
According to Fox 5 Atlanta, Wilson testified that Brown ordered the women out of the car to search them at gunpoint. He shot Campbell multiple times when she resisted. Her younger sister, a high school student, tried to comply but was shot twice.
The men put their bodies in the trunk of Campbell’s car and continued on to Rome, where they dumped the bodies over the bridge like trash.
Pullen, who was riding with Brown, told investigators that Brown’s mother eventually called to say she found the wallet behind a TV in the living room.
He said Brown got erratic and pulled out of a drive-through line, cursing. “He said ‘I just caught two bodies for nothing,'” Wilson testified.
