Roommate charged in deadly shooting of Winder couple inside their home

BARROW COUNTY, Ga. — Police have made an arrest in the deadly shooting of a Winder couple inside their home earlier this month.

Officers found the bodies of 29-year-old Marcus Gardner and 30-year-old Christina Virginia Smith during a welfare check on March 5.

Investigators determined that someone shot and killed the couple, then stole their 2005 Ford Escape. Police tracked down the victims’ car to Missouri and arrested 25-year-old Martell Scott.

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Police said Scott had been living with the couple for several weeks prior to their murder. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested Scott in Kansas City on March 18.

Channel 2′s Steve Gehlbach spoke exclusively with Smith’s mother earlier this month. She said they last heard from her daughter on March 3.

“She texted me back and said, ‘I love you, mommy.’ That’s what she always said, or ‘I love you, too,’” Willie Mae Smith said.

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When she didn’t show up for work, the family became worried. The family believes Smith and her fiancé Gardner were killed on her 30th birthday.

Smith’s mother said the couple had a temporary roommate staying with them, a friend Marcus he grew up with, who moved in back in January. Those details match up with the new information released by Winder police Friday.

“They were trying to help this man, and he just didn’t want to be helped,” Willie Mae Smith said. “They brought him back because he wanted to start a new life and let him stay there until he got on his feet” Willie Mae Smith said.

Scott is charged with two counts of murder, two counts of felony murder and one count of possessing a firearm during the commission of a crime.

Scott was transported back to Georgia by the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office. He remains in custody at the Barrow County Detention Center.

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Young couple found shot to death, car missing from Winder home, police say Police went to a home at 180 Bush Chapel Drive on Saturday, where they found the bodies of 29-year-old Marcus Gardner and 30-year-old Christina Virginia Smith.

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