In the early morning hours of a December day in Mobile, Alabama, the promising life of 20-year-old China Leann Barber was tragically cut short. On December 10, 2013, gunshots shattered the pre-dawn quiet at the Campus Quarters apartment complex, a place near the University of South Alabama where she was a scholarship student. When police arrived around 4:45 a.m., they discovered a grim scene.
Two individuals, a man and a woman, were found deceased from gunshot wounds, their bodies lying approximately 100 yards apart.
The investigation that followed unraveled a story of a troubled relationship that ended in a devastating act of violence. The Mobile Police Department identified the deceased as China Leann Barber, her boyfriend Augustus “Gus” Bennett, and her estranged husband, 23-year-old Robert “BJ” Sprinkle. It was determined that Sprinkle was the gunman in what was ultimately ruled a double murder and suicide. The motive appeared to stem from an argument related to the estranged couple's previous relationship.
China and Sprinkle had a history together, having both attended Theodore High School and marrying in December of 2012. However, the marriage was short-lived, and they had been separated for several months prior to the shooting. Friends indicated that the marriage was a spontaneous decision that China later regretted. In the days leading up to the tragedy, Bennett had announced on social media that he and China were in a relationship, a new chapter in her life that was violently closed by her estranged husband. The incident concluded with Sprinkle taking his own life after murdering Barber and Bennett, leaving behind a wake of grief and unanswered questions.
