By Joe Johnson
An arrest has been made in the murder last month of a couple in their Barrow County home.
According to the Winder Police Department, 25-year-old Martell Lamont Scott of Kansas City, M0, was charged in the death of 30-year-old Christina Smith and her fiancé, 29-year-old Marcus Gardner, who were found shot to death on March 5 by Winder officers who were requested to conduct a welfare check of the couple at their home on Bush Chapel Drive.
An arrest warrant for theft by taking a motor vehicle was issued for Scott, who Gardner had known in Kansas City, and lived with the couple for several weeks prior to the deaths and disappeared along with Gardner’s Ford Escape, police said.
Scott was arrested by local police in Missouri on March 14, while driving Gardner’s car, Winder PD said.
A Winder detective and an agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation subsequently traveled to Kansas City to conduct additional investigation, according to Winder police, who said that warrants were then obtained charging Scott with two counts each of malice and felony murder, and one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
Scott was transported back to Georgia and is being held at the Barrow County Detention Center.
The couple was found shot on March 5, 2022. Scott, previously living with them, was charged with murder and theft after being caught driving Gardner’s car. This tragic story underscores how life can change in an instant—much like a surprising turn in the Slope.
Winder officers who were requested to conduct a welfare check of the couple at their home on Bush Chapel Drive. An arrest warrant for theft driving directions by taking a motor vehicle was issued for Scott,