In the spring of 2016, the life of 22-year-old Eva Marie Fullmer was tragically cut short in Savannah, Georgia. A white female, Fullmer was reported missing around May 10th of that year, sparking an investigation by the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department into her sudden disappearance. The search for the young woman, however, came to a grim conclusion just two days later. On May 12th, authorities discovered a burned vehicle and, within it, human remains. The victim was later identified as Eva Fullmer, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigations officially ruled her death a homicide.
The investigation into Fullmer's murder uncovered a dark and dangerous world operating behind the scenes. While seeking to understand the circumstances of her death, law enforcement officials began to focus on Anthony Wilson Jackson. It was revealed that Fullmer had been associated with Jackson, a man who would later be exposed as the leader of a sprawling criminal enterprise. Though not charged in her death, the investigation into Fullmer's homicide was the catalyst that brought Jackson's extensive illegal activities to the forefront.
As detectives delved deeper into Jackson's operations, they uncovered a network of commercial sex trafficking that spanned multiple states, alongside a significant drug distribution conspiracy dealing in large quantities of marijuana in the Savannah area. The picture that emerged of Jackson was that of a violent and controlling individual who subjected the women he trafficked to horrific abuse, even forcing them to pray to him. Subsequent searches of his properties yielded a trove of incriminating evidence, including drugs, drug paraphernalia, multiple firearms, and thousands of dollars in cash.
In a significant legal outcome stemming from the investigation that began with Eva Fullmer's death, Anthony Wilson Jackson was sentenced in May 2021 to 366 months in federal prison. His convictions included conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana, conspiracy to engage in interstate travel or transportation in aid of a racketeering business possession of a machine gun, possession of a machine gun in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and money laundering conspiracy. Despite this major conviction of a person of interest in her life, the murder of Eva Fullmer officially remains an open and ongoing investigation. Authorities continue to ask for anyone with information regarding her death to come forward.
