Two months after the GBI charged two men in the deaths of two women whose bodies were dumped off a northwest Georgia bridge, the agency added murder charges against them and arrested a third suspect.
The GBI announced the arrest of 23-year-old Christopher Leedarius Pullen on Thursday along with the new charges against Desmond Lavonta Brown, 28, and Devin Lashawn Watts, 36. The trio face murder charges in the deaths of 18-year-old Vanita Richardson and 31-year-old Truvenia Campbell, the agency said in a news release.
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
On May 13, the women’s bodies were found underneath an overpass near the Etowah River in Rome, AJC.com previously reported. The bodies were “apparently dropped over the (Etowah) bridge” and left in the area of Wilbanks and Houston Mill roads, GBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Brian Johnston told the Rome News-Tribune at the time.
A Georgia Department of Transportation crew made the grisly discovery while performing maintenance on the bridge. Both women had bags tied over their heads when they were found, the police report said.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / HSHIN@AJC.COM
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / HSHIN@AJC.COM
The agency also recently found Richardson’s 1997 Toyota Corolla, which was reported missing since the double homicide, the release said. Authorities found it at an undisclosed location in South Fulton.
Richardson was set to graduate from Armuchee High School in Rome days after her death, Floyd County Schools confirmed.
Days after the bodies were found, the GBI charged Brown and Watts in the investigation. That was Brown’s third arrest within a week.
However, neither was charged with murder in the women’s deaths until this week.
The two men face two counts of malice murder and two firearm possession charges, the GBI said. Brown, Watts and Pullen face two counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of aggravated battery, two counts of abandonment of a dead body, three counts of tampering with evidence, one count of theft by taking and a count of false statements and writing.
The GBI has not released a potential motive.
During a news conference to announce the charges, GBI Director Vic Reynolds, who is a Rome native, spoke about how the brutal double homicide has rocked the city’s community. Rome police Chief Denise Downer-McKinney echoed that sentiment.
“This has been a hideous crime in our city,” McKinney said. “It has affected many people, and I am just so thankful that we have the cooperation and the working relationship with the GBI to bring this to a close.”
She finished her statement with a blunt, “This is done.”
The three men are in custody at the Floyd County Jail. AJC.com has reached out to the Floyd County Sheriff’s Office to request Pullen’s mug shot.
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Credit: Ryon Horne / Ryon.Horne@ajc.com and Tyson Horne / Tyson.Horne@ajc.com
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