TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A missing person case in Tallahassee turned into a murder probe, making the family sad.
Anastasia Gilley had been lost for a week before her body was found on a dirt road in Alabama. She was four months pregnant at the time.
Her family said that she was a gift from God and that they will always remember the time they spent with her while she was here. They all said that she had a lot of fun with her grandfather. He called her “Tootsie Pop,” and she kept that name until she died.
“I knew she was in trouble, and I knew she wouldn’t run away. I knew she was in trouble. Sandra Steele, Anastasia Gilley’s grandmother, said, “I knew we had to find her.”
After her body was found in another state, the 19-year-old’s family and friends are sad.
“I was afraid, mad, and wanted to get her. “I wanted to find her, but it didn’t work out that way. Now that she’s been found, we’ll lay her to rest,” Steele said.
The Houston County Sheriff’s Office has reason to think that Gilley was taken against her will and shot on a country road in Alabama.
Steele said, “Just the fact that someone could do that to someone who was so good, and she never did anything to hurt anyone, is terrible.”
A few days before Mother’s Day, the terrible thing happened. Sandra Steele, Gilley’s grandma, also wanted Gilley to become a mother one day.
Steele said, “All she ever wanted to be was a mother. She helped raise her siblings and was always like a little mother to her own brothers and sisters.”
Now, Steele is left to think about the times she will remember for the rest of her life, starting with the day Gilley was born.
“Other than my beautiful daughter, she was the most beautiful thing God ever made on this Earth,” Steele said. “From that day on, it was just love.”
Steele said that the Christmas she spent with Anastasia and the rest of her family will always be one of her favorite memories.
“They came to my house for Christmas, and it’s one of my best memories that I’ll keep with me until the day I die. It was great. It was a good day, a good day,” Steele said.
Gilley’s family said they are hurt and sad, but they hope that the community will remember her in a good way.
