DeMarcus Little told the courtroom he was no monster. But it took a jury only two hours to find him guilty of murder Tuesday in the death of his girlfriend, Anitra Gunn.
“I’m not the person that you’re making me out to be. I’m not a monster. Because if I was a monster, she would have left me a long time ago,” Little said, according to Channel 2 Action News.
He took the stand in his own defense, hoping to convince the jurors he was not the killer. Evidence convinced the jury otherwise.
Prosecutors believe Little strangled Gunn to death before leaving her body in a wooded area of Crawford County in February 2020. A graduate of Fulton County’s Westlake High, Gunn was 23.
Little, a U.S. Army soldier stationed at Fort Gordon, had been arrested and charged with criminal damage to property stemming from a Feb. 5, 2020, incident that left Gunn’s windows broken and her tires slashed. While still in custody, he was charged with Gunn’s murder.
Credit: LEAH YETTER
Credit: LEAH YETTER
A day after she was reported missing by her father, Christopher Gunn, her damaged car was found abandoned near her home. A Peach County sheriff’s deputy later spotted a piece of the vehicle on the edge of a wood line and followed tire tracks into the woods, where he found her body covered with sticks.
“The ray of sunshine and the apple of our eye gained her heavenly wings,” Christopher Gunn wrote on a GoFundMe page. “Although we have so many unanswered questions, we are trusting in God thru it all. We are so THANKFUL for the outpouring of love, support, and prayers from all over the country.”
At a vigil to honor Gunn, Kelvin Blalock said he hired her to work at his restaurant because of her smile. Many tears had been shed in the restaurant over the past few days.
“She was our sister, she was our teammate,” he said. “We loved her dearly.”
After a week-long trial, the jury found Little guilty of felony murder and aggravated assault but not guilty of malice murder. The judge sentenced him to life without the possibility of parole.
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