Georgia authorities located the body of missing Fort Valley State University student Anitra Gunn Tuesday in Crawford County, officials with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed via WGXA-TV.
Gunn, 23, had been missing since Valentine’s Day. She was last seen in a neighborhood just north of the city of Fort Valley, located in Peach County in Central Georgia. Authorities recovered her body in Crawford, some 23 miles from Peach County.
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ORIGINAL STORY:
Georgia authorities have intensified their search for missing Fort Valley State University student Anitra Gunn, who has not been seen or heard from since Valentine’s Day.
On Monday, the Fort Valley Police Department formed a joint task force with the Peach County Sheriff’s Office and Georgia Bureau of Investigation in hopes of locating the missing college student. Police also flew helicopter units over several areas near the historically black university, where 23–year–old Gunn is a senior agriculture major.
“We’ve also been out here searching the wood line, ditches, just anything,” Peach County Sheriff Terry Deese told local station WMAZ-TV. “We’re just looking for anything that will help us find Ms. Gunn.”
So far, their search hasn’t turned up any new leads.
Authorities said Gunn was last seen at about 11:30 a.m. Friday at her boyfriend’s aunt’s house on Chestnut Hill Road. Her father, Christopher Gunn, called and wished his daughter a Happy Valentine’s Day earlier that morning. However, calls from family and friends who tried reaching her later on went unanswered.
Gunn said that’s when he knew something was “definitely out of whack.”
“She never texted them back, didn’t call them back,” he recalled.
The worried father, who made the nearly one-and-a-half-hour drive from Atlanta to Fort Valley after reporting his daughter missing Saturday, was among the crews on the ground looking for any trace of the missing young woman. The day before, Gunn had asked police to conduct a courtesy check at Anitra’s home on W. Church Street after he and several others were unable to reach her.
Authorities checked her apartment, but found no one inside. There were no signs of a break-in, police said, nor did they notice any damage or things being out of place.
A friend, India King, was reportedly the last person to see Anitra before she vanished. In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, King said she drove them to a party last Thursday night. King ended up leaving early, however, so Gunn left the shindig with someone else.
“She has never went days without calling or texting either me, her father or other friends and family members,” she told the newspaper. “[Anitra] has a cat and a dog we share who currently lives with her. She’s never went days without feeding them, letting them out or scheduling with someone else to do so. All red flags that make us more concerned on her whereabouts.”
King said she last saw her friend at 1:32 a.m. Friday.
On Saturday, police recovered Gunn’s car in a neighbor’s yard, just a few blocks from her apartment. Her father said there was damage to the car’s front bumper and that Anitra’s wallet was found inside.
Gunn also told WMAZ that police told him his daughter’s cell phone was found elsewhere, but wouldn’t tell him where.
A search for the missing student continued Monday as authorities combed through the area where Gunn last was seen, the Chestnut Hill Road residence of the aunt of Gunn’s current or former boyfriend. Police have questioned but not identified him, and towed his vehicle to look through as part of the investigation, but they haven’t implicated him in her disappearance.
No suspects have been named so far, and police haven’t made any arrests. But they’ve vowed to continue looking.
“In cases like this, we are not going to leave any rocks uncovered,” said Sheriff Deese.
The search for Gunn has also spilled over to social media where users are using the hashtag #FindAnitra to help spread the word about her disappearance.
Authorities say Anitra Gunn is 5-foot-7 and weighs 165 pounds. She was last seen wearing an olive green bomber jacket with black trim, a skirt and a tan long-sleeved shirt, a friend told police. She was also sporting a wavy, shoulder-length wig.
Anyone with information regarding Gunn’s disappearance is urged to call the Fort Valley Police Department at 478-825-3384.
Watch more in the video below.
