A fugitive long targeted by the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office is now behind bars, with deputies saying his arrest brings a years‑long manhunt in a 2021 Ellenwood killing to a close.
Marquavius Antonion Hendrix, 34, was taken into custody Tuesday and booked into the Clayton County Jail in connection with the slaying of 30‑year‑old mother Cormella “Missy” Thomas, whose body was found near I‑675 in Ellenwood. The case had placed Hendrix on the county’s list of most wanted suspects.
Hendrix faces charges of felony murder, aggravated assault, possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime and possession of a firearm. Authorities say Thomas, 30, was found shot to death on Oct. 3, 2021, near the I‑675 and Anvil Block Road interchange in Ellenwood, according to FOX 5 Atlanta.
Operation and arrest
"Today, an operation was carried out to take Hendrix into custody without incident," Clayton County Sheriff Levon Allen said, as reported by FOX 5 Atlanta. Allen said the U.S. Marshals Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force led the operation, with help from the Georgia State Patrol and the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office.
Before his arrest, Hendrix had been listed as No. 2 on Clayton County’s Top 10 Most Wanted list.
Case history
Thomas, a mother of three, was discovered with multiple gunshot wounds alongside the interstate in October 2021, a killing that launched an extended investigation and a widening search for a suspect.
Authorities intensified the manhunt last year, and Hendrix was added to both statewide and local wanted lists, an earlier report noting that officials had intensified the manhunt stated.
Legal status and next steps
Hendrix remains in the Clayton County Jail on the felony counts as prosecutors and investigators prepare the next steps in the case.
Officials have not disclosed a suspected motive in Thomas’s killing or said whether Hendrix and Thomas knew each other. It also was not immediately clear whether additional suspects are under investigation.
For now, authorities say, the years‑long search for one of Clayton County’s most wanted suspects has at least reached a turning point: the manhunt is over, and the case moves fully into the courts.
