KEY POINTS

  • Vanita Richardson and Truvenia Campbell were killed after they were accused of stealing a wallet
  • The wallet was later discovered inside the house of one of the three alleged murderers
  • Two men were charged over the deaths of the women and they have been extradited to Alabama
  • The third man remains detained in Georgia as he was not extradited with the other two

Two half-sisters who were found dead in Georgia over a year ago were shot and had their bodies dumped off a bridge after they were allegedly suspected of stealing a wallet.

Vanita Richardson and Truvenia Clarece Campbell, aged 19 and 30, respectively, were found dead with bags over their heads beneath Etowah Bridge in Rome in May of last year.

Two Rome men charged with murder over the siblings' deaths — 24-year-old Christopher Leedarius Pullen and 37-year-old Devon Lashawn Watts — were booked into the Cherokee County Jail in Alabama last Friday afternoon, local newspaper The Gadsden Times reported. A third man charged in the incident, Desmond Brown, was not extradited to the state and was detained in Fulton County Jail in Georgia.

The trio were arrested in Georgia last year, but charges were initiated in Alabama once authorities determined Richardson and Campbell were shot and killed in Cherokee County, a report by the Associated Press said.

The men believed the sisters had stolen Brown's wallet at a house party in Alabama, which prompted the trio to confront the siblings during a ride back to Rome, police said.

The women were reportedly ordered out of the car during the encounter and were searched at gunpoint. Campbell and Richardson were later shot after the former fought back.

Both bodies were put inside the trunk of the men's car and the trio made stops at a gas station along U.S. Route 411 to buy gloves, water bottles and a cigar, investigators said. The men then allegedly made another stop to sell synthetic marijuana at an apartment complex.

The sisters’ bodies were later thrown from the U.S. 411 bridge. They were found on May 13, 2020 by Georgia Department of Transportation crews who were getting ready for a bridge inspection on the East Rome Bypass near Grizzard Park.

Brown later learned the two women were not responsible for stealing his wallet, investigators said. The wallet was allegedly discovered by his mother behind a television in his living room.

The three men were arrested days after the incident on other charges and were jailed while the investigation continued.

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Representation. Christopher Leedarius Pullen, 24, and Devon Lashawn Watts, 37, were extradited to Cherokee County Jail in Alabama. Pixabay