A judge set a $500,000 cash bond for two suspects in the killing of Cort Gatlin, while a criminal affidavit identified two other suspects who remain at large.
At a hearing Tuesday afternoon, Pike County Justice Court Judge Aubrey Rimes set a $500,000 cash bond for Anthony Dauden, 25, 8271⁄2 Earl St., McComb, and Bridget Dillon, 29, 809 Avenue E, McComb. Both are charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Two other suspects, Exzavion “Zabo” Reed and Jeremy “Jeezy” McElvin, are alleged co-conspirators in Gatlin’s death, with McElvin allegedly firing the gun that took his life.
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On Friday, Aug. 26, Gatlin celebrated his 29th birthday with his family. It was the last time they would see him alive.
“He was dancing and laughing, and we were all having fun. We were just all content, so that’s the memory I want to keep,” said his oldest sister, Willie Brumfield.
She said during the party, Gatlin went outside and talked to someone.
“I asked him where he was going, and he said Tony was outside,” she said, referring to Dauden.
Brumfield said her brother told her he would talk to Dauden and be back, but he never returned.
Gatlin’s family has been caught in an emotional whirlwind since the discovery of his body Thursday night near Alford’s Bridge.
“It’s a nightmare that I wish I could wake up from, but I can’t,” Brumfield said.
Brumfield said she wants to remember her younger brother the way he was when she last saw him.
She said she knew something was wrong when her brother didn’t text her the next morning — or the day after that.
“He always texted me telling me, ‘Good morning’ before I get ready to work. He never texted,” she said.
On Monday, Aug. 29, she said she told her mother, Florence Gatlin, that they needed to file a missing persons report.
They filed the report with McComb police on Aug. 30.
Two days later, detectives acting on a tip found Gatlin’s body on the west bank of the Bogue Chitto River, just south of Alford’s Bridge in northern Pike County.
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Brumfield and Gatlin’s niece Shabreshea Brown became emotional at Tuesday’s bond hearing as Rimes read the charges to Dauden, who stood shackled and wearing an orange jumpsuit.
According to the affidavit filed by Pike County sheriff’s investigator Chris Bell, he and McComb police Detective Sid Boyte interviewed Anthony Dauden after learning he may have had something to do with Gatlin’s disappearance.
The affidavit said Dauden told investigators “that he believed Cort Gatlin had abused Gatlin’s girlfriend’s daughter.”
Gatlin’s family told reporters after Tuesday’s court hearing, however, that Gatlin had been cleared of such allegations.
According to the affidavit, Dauden told Bell that he, Dillon and McElvin took Gatlin to Alford’s Bridge on Sunday, Aug. 28, and tried to get Gatlin to get out of the car, but he refused.
The trio then allegedly drove Gatlin to a home on Summit-Holmesville Road.
There, Dauden, Dillon and McElvin met Reed. The affidavit says the three men beat and pistol-whipped Gatlin. They then allegedly bound Gatlin’s hands behind his back with duct tape, taped his mouth, put him in the back of Reed’s car and drove back to Alford’s Bridge.
“Dauden, Dillon and McElvin held Gatlin over the bridge and Jeremy shot him in the neck area three times,” the affidavit states.
The affidavit did not address anything that may have happened between Friday, when Gatlin’s family last heard from him, and Sunday, when the document says he died.
This morning, the sheriff’s department said it had found Reed’s car in Lincoln County. It had been missing since Gatlin’s body was found.
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As Dauden stood in the courtroom, he never moved or asked a question.
After reading the affidavit, Rimes asked Dauden if he had any questions.
“No, sir,” he calmly replied.
Rimes set Dauden’s bond at $500,000 cash before setting the same bond for Dillon, who declined Rimes’ offer to have the same affidavit read again.
“Do you need me to read the charges again?”
“No, sir,” she said.
“Do you understand what’s going on?” Rimes asked.
“Yes, sir,” she answered.
“Bond is also set at $500,000 — cash only,” Rimes said.
“That’s what he deserves. That bond’s too big for him. He’ll never make it,” a member of Gatlin’s family said in a hushed tone in court.
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As Gatlin’s family exited the courtroom, they exchanged hugs and tears.
“I feel a sense of relief, and I feel like justice has been served,” Gatlin’s brother Edward said after the hearing.
A short distance away, Dauden’s family members comforted each other.
“I also feel sorry for his family. They lost someone, too,” Edward Gatlin Jr. said of Dauden.
Edward Gatlin Jr. said that when his brother was still missing, he spoke to Dauden and asked him if he knew where brother was.
“I told him I knew he had something to do with it. He wouldn’t look at me. I could sense his guilt,” Edward Gatlin Jr. said. “So I walked around, and I went and stood in his face.”
Neither he nor his mother knew Dauden or Dillon, “but my brother knew them, and he trusted them for him to be at their home,” he said.
Gatlin’s father Edward Gatlin Sr. said he’ll be relieved when his family can lay his son to rest.
Gatlin’s funeral will be at 1 p.m. Friday at Pleasant Grove East McComb M.B. Church. People’s Undertaking Co. is in charge of arrangements.
“We can get some closure and try to move on,” he said.
Gatlin’s father said he continues to work to keep his mind busy, so he won’t think about what happened to his son.
“I fix cars. I’m an auto mechanic. My son and I — Cort — we worked on cars together,” he said. “They take them apart and put them back together again.”
Gatlin was one of nine children.
“We’re a tight-knit family,” Brumfield added.
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Brumfield said Dauden and Dillon used to hang out with her and Cort Gatlin all the time.
“They were always over the house, eating up our food,” Gatlin’s niece Shabreshea Brown said.
“My daughter considered them Uncle Tony and Auntie Bridget,” Brumfield said.
She said when her younger daughter saw Dauden and Dillon’s mugshots on the front page of Sunday’s Enterprise-Journal she recognized them.
“She said, ‘Momma, that’s Uncle Tony and Auntie Bridget,’ and I just had to turn the paper over,” she said.
“My brother didn’t deserve that, he didn’t,” she said.
Brumfield said she finds solace in her faith.
“I feel relieved. We know that justice is being done, and we’re ready to put our brother to rest. We’re ready to say our last farewells and goodbyes,” Brumfield said.
She said she wants people to remember her brother was bright.
“He was a lovable person. He didn’t have any enemies,” Brumfield said.
“Our family is very spiritual, and my aunt said the Lord told her he snatched his soul before they could harm him anymore,” she said.
“I just wanted to know,” she said through tears, “Did he call for us? Did he pray? I just want to know.”
