As the investigation continued into the deaths of two women whose bodies were discovered Wednesday morning under a northwest Georgia bridge, the mother of the younger victim remembers the last thing she told her daughter Tuesday night.
“She pulled out of the yard and I said you better make it back in tonight,” Vanita Allen told Channel 2 Action News on Friday.
The GBI identified the victims as Vanita Richardson, 18, and Truvenia Campbell, 31, both of Rome. Richardson was set to graduate next Saturday from Armuchee High School in Rome, Floyd County Schools confirmed.
Also on Friday, the GBI released information about Richardson’s car, a gold 1997 Toyota Corolla with Georgia license plate RTJ6295.
“The investigation has shown that both Vanita Richardson and Truvenia Campbell were in this vehicle during the evening hours of Tuesday, May 12, 2020,” GBI spokeswoman Nelly Miles said in a statement. “The vehicle’s location is not known at this time but investigators believe that it could be somewhere in the metro Atlanta area.”
The women’s 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.
A Georgia Department of Transportation crew performing maintenance on the bridge made the grisly discovery, according to a Rome police report. The first calls about the bodies came around 11 a.m. Wednesday, Johnston said.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / HSHIN@AJC.COM
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / HSHIN@AJC.COM
Both women had bags tied over their heads when they were found, the police report said.
The GBI officially classified the case as a homicide Thursday.
Initial reports from scanner traffic indicated that spent shotgun shells were discovered nearby, according to the News-Tribune. The GBI has not confirmed those reports.
The cause of the women’s deaths remains under investigation.
“My world is gone,” Vanita Allen told the news station. “... I can’t believe what they did to my baby ... she wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
She described her daughter and Campbell as close friends and said Richardson had dreams of becoming a photographer.
Anyone who might have information about the case is asked to contact the GBI at 1-800-597-8477.
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