Anastasia Gilley, a 19-year-old pregnant woman who vanished from her Marianna, Florida, home a week ago, was found dead, and an Alabama man was apprehended in connection with her kidnapping and murder, authorities said. Gilley was from Tallahassee but had been living in Marianna, and her disappearance sparked a manhunt “around the country,” according to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.
A number of locations in Jackson and Houston counties were searched by law enforcement after receiving leads from interviews and other “investigative techniques,” according to the JCSO. Investigators discovered a dead victim early on Wednesday morning close to Headland, Alabama, a small community outside of Dothan, Alabama.
According to the JCSO news release, “Investigators believe this to be the body of Anastasia Gilley, pending an autopsy.”
On social media, Gilley’s family and friends, who went to Rickards High School, expressed their shock and grief.
Her older sister, Crystal Taylor, wrote on Facebook that “this is a nightmare we can never wake up from.” “YOU SHOULD BE PRESENT. It just doesn’t seem real every time I see another news headline with your name and face on it. You weren’t supposed to pass away before me, my baby sister.
According to JCSO, Marquis Devan McCloud, 33, of Alabama, was detained on suspicion of first-degree kidnapping and capital murder. Since the beginning of the week, McCloud had been detained.
The Sheriff’s Office stated that the suspect “has been uncooperative throughout this entire investigation.”
The “large, multi-state investigation” into Gilley’s murder is still ongoing, according to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, which also stated that the suspect was no longer “a threat to the public.” More information will be released as the investigation progresses, according to JCSO.
Donald Edenfield, sheriff of Jackson County, expressed gratitude to everyone who has helped and will continue to help with the investigation.
Sheriff Edenfield and Houston County Sheriff Donald Valenza expressed their sincere condolences to the victim’s family and friends in the news release, which was issued by JCSO.