In early March of 2022, concern grew for 29-year-old Marcus Gardner and his 30-year-old fiancée, Christina Virginia Smith, when they hadn't been heard from for a couple of days. The last communication anyone had with the couple was a text message from Christina to her mother. When Christina did not show up for her job at a local hotel, a welfare check was requested at their Winder, Georgia, home on Bush Chapel Drive. On March 5th, officers from the Winder Police Department made the grim discovery of Marcus and Christina inside their residence, both deceased from gunshot wounds.
The couple, who had gotten engaged in December 2021, were described as having a bright future ahead of them, with plans to purchase a home and take a vacation later in the year. The tragedy was compounded by the fact that the couple was found on Christina's 30th birthday. In the days following the discovery, family and friends held a candlelight vigil in downtown Winder to honor their memory and bring awareness to the senseless violence that took their lives.
The investigation quickly focused on a man who had been living with the couple for several weeks. Martell Lamont Scott, a 25-year-old acquaintance of Marcus's from Missouri, had been staying with them to get back on his feet. In the wake of the murders, Scott had disappeared, along with Marcus Gardner's Ford Escape. Family members had expressed their concerns about Scott to investigators, believing he was responsible for the deaths.
On March 14, 2022, authorities located and arrested Martell Scott in Missouri. He was found in possession of Marcus Gardner's stolen vehicle. Following his arrest, a detective from Winder and an agent from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation traveled to Missouri to further the investigation. Scott was subsequently charged with two counts of murder, two counts of felony murder, and one count of possessing a firearm during the commission of a crime. He was then extradited back to Georgia and taken into custody at the Barrow County Detention Center to await prosecution.
