FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — The Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis announced on Wednesday that there has been a conviction in the 2000 cold case murder of Edna Mae Whitt.
The DA said Vernon Spear, 64, was found guilty on five counts, including murder and rape.
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On March 1, 2000, Edna Mae Whitt asked four men to help her relocate from Richardson Street to McDaniel Street in Atlanta. Juanita Sturnes, a friend who helped with the move, came back the next day to visit and discovered the apartment’s front window had been shattered.
Officers responded to the scene and found Whitt dead with multiple injuries to her head, signs of sexual assault, and a broken wrist and torn fingernails.
The medical examiner said the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the skull.
The investigation turned cold until Detective Vincent Velazquez from the Atlanta Police Department utilized DNA analysis in 2011 to exclude three people who aided in Whitt’s move.
In 2014, while in federal custody on gun charges, Vernon Spear’s DNA was added to the CODIS database, and the system flagged a match with the sexual assault kit performed at Whitt’s autopsy. Further testing by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed that the DNA found in the victim during the sexual assault exam belonged to Spear.
On November 7, 2023, a competency trial that included the testimony of two doctors from Emory’s Law and Psychiatry Service conclusively established that Spear was deemed competent to stand trial. On November 17, 2023, a jury returned a guilty verdict.
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“This conviction was the result of relentless investigation and skillful prosecution, and underscores the crucial role DNA testing plays in solving sexual assault crimes,” said District Attorney Fani T. Willis. “After enduring a 23-year wait, Ms. Edna Mae Whitt’s family can finally find a sense of closure.”
Spear has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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