Trial moves forward for three men accused of killing two sisters

The motive for the double homicide was a missing wallet

Dec 6, 2020

According to the Rome News-Tribune, it has come to light that the murders of Vernita Nicole Richardson, 19 and Truvenia Campbell, 31, two sisters from Rome, Georgia, whose bodies were found under the 411 bridge, began with a man discovering his wallet was missing at his birthday party.

GBI Special Agent, Ghee Wilson, one of the lead investigators on the case, provided the only testimony at the hearing on Thursday. After Wilson’s testimony, Judge John “Jack” Niedrach ruled there was probable cause to bring the case to trial.

“On May 12 Desmond Brown was having a party at his home on Cave Spring Street. Several people including Richardson, Campbell, Devin Watts and Christopher Pullen were there,” according to Wilson’s testimony.

The Rome, Georgia natives, Campbell and Richardson, left the party at some point after 6 p.m. Shortly thereafter, Brown realized he was missing his wallet. He blamed the two sisters, believing they had stolen it. The three men, Brown, Watts and Pullen came up with a plan to get the women into Brown’s Volkswagen Phaeton and get his wallet back.

Sisters Vanita Richardson (left) and Trevena Clarece Campbell (right) were found dead under a Georgia bridge. State investigators have launched a homicide investigation into their deaths. (Photo: 11 Alive)

After a phone call a few hours later, they convinced Richardson to drop her 1997 Toyota Corolla off at an apartment complex and invited her and Campbell to go for a ride with them.

Wilson testified that Brown pulled to the side of the road and ordered the women out of the car at gunpoint. He demanded to search them, and when Campbell protested, Brown shot her three times. Richardson, who was a high school senior at the time, attempted to comply with the search, but was shot twice by Brown.

With the sisters dead in the trunk of the car, the three men drove around doing errands before tossing their bodies off the 411 bridge. At some point while the men were driving around, Brown’s mother called to inform him that she had found his wallet behind the TV at home.

The proceedings are still at an early stage and none of the men have been convicted of the crime. Judge Niedrach told Brown and Watts via a video conference that the next phase of the case is for it to be presented to a grand jury for indictment.

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