Leondre Flynt never did anything without notifying his family first. So when he didn’t come home one evening in July and stopped picking up his phone, family members knew something was wrong.
“I came to the conclusion ... that they’re not going to kidnap a grown man, he’s been missing too many days and just by how the situation was going, I already knew he was gone,” Shannon Wilson recounted to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday about a moment in mid-August when he began to accept that his cousin was likely dead.
Flynt was reported missing Aug. 1, and following the search of a Buckhead apartment about two weeks later, police said they believe the 21-year-old was killed. Authorities began searching for Flynt after Wilson’s sister, who is his legal guardian, reached out to Gwinnett County police July 30 and stated that he had been missing since the previous day. No suspects have been publicly identified by police.
He was last seen by Wilson’s sister July 28. They then spoke on the phone the following day around 10:45 a.m., when he mentioned he was going to pick up a radiator from an auto parts store and was going to meet a woman in Buckhead, Wilson said. Flynt added that he would return home later that day, a missing person report details.
But Flynt never made it back home, and despite several family members attempting to call and text him, no one was able to get in contact with him. Flynt’s brother was eventually able to get in touch with a woman Flynt had recently met, Wilson confirmed, describing the call as eerie.
“(Flynt’s brother) said (to the woman), ‘We’re looking for my brother,’ and she was like, ‘Last time I seen him, he was OK,’” Wilson recounted the conversation, adding that the woman was never asked about how Flynt was doing, but only if she had seen him.
The missing person report details that the woman told Flynt’s brother to stop contacting her or she would block his number. The woman, whose name was not provided, admitted to seeing Flynt on July 29, the report states.
According to Wilson, phone records reveal Flynt arrived at the Marquis at Buckhead apartments garage around noon on July 29. Employees at the complex told the family in mid-August that they saw Flynt arrive there around that time.
By 1 p.m., Wilson said five gunshots were fired in an apartment unit. Employees told the family that they got in contact with the apartment owner and were told that the gunshots were a misfire. Maintenance also told the family that blood was found in a hallway. Atlanta police have not confirmed the details of the incident.
“That doesn’t make sense. Who misfires like five times?” Wilson questioned. “If somebody shoots in your apartment, you guys don’t call the police?”
On Aug. 16, Atlanta police executed a search warrant at the apartment located off Peachtree Road, where they found “items of evidentiary value,” according to an Atlanta police report. The items were not disclosed, but police said the circumstances of the disappearance and the items collected were enough to determine that Flynt was killed.
Police said Flynt was driving his 2018 maroon GMC Canyon at the time he went missing. Wilson said the pickup was tracked to Detroit, Michigan, soon after Flynt was reported missing. A few days later, Wilson said the truck had been moved and was no longer trackable.
Wilson described Flynt as hardworking and giving. He was always focused on work and enjoyed spending time with family. Now they are dedicating all of their free time to solving the case by hanging up flyers around Buckhead and asking community members if they may have witnessed the incident.
“We’ve been doing all the footwork,” Wilson said.
The exact day of Flynt’s death has not been provided, and Wilson confirmed his body remains missing. Flynt is described as just under 6 feet tall and about 140 pounds. He was last seen leaving his home carrying a change of clothes and wearing a sleeveless white shirt and black jeans.
— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.
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