Makayla had two miscarriages, and that devastated her. The once-happy-go-lucky girl turned gloomy and frustrated. It hurt everyone around her to see her like that.
It took Makayla years to get out of that pain, only to be caught in another one.
In 2020, Makayla finally started dating 27-year-old Anthony Fuerte. Upon first glance, Anthony seemed like a kind, caring guy who would give Makayla the life she deserved.
However, as people got to know him, they saw how much of a troubled man Anthony was.
Anthony Fuerte
Anthony was born to parents who didn’t know what they were doing. They were heavily influenced by drugs, which affected his mental health severely. He had an IQ of about 50, and he couldn’t get along with most people.
Anthony got into drugs and alcohol in school. He was also expelled from school for the same reason. And a few years later, he was convicted of armed robbery and sent to prison for seven years.
While it’s unclear if Makayla and her loved ones knew about Anthony’s troubled past, they seemed happy with him. To them, Anthony was genuine, kind, and charming.
Of course, all that would change.
The beginning of the end
On February 6, 2020, Makayla and Anthony went out with a friend, Joshua Thomas.
A police officer pulled
them over for a random check. And incidentally, both Joshua and Anthony had drugs on them. The officer arrested them, and they had to spend a couple of weeks in jail before being released.
After this incident, the relationship between Anthony and Makayla changed.
Anthony, for some reason, believed that Makayla had set up the raid and sent him to prison.
Makayla obviously did not do that, but he didn’t believe her. She was even terrified that Anthony might harm her. He kept threatening her with his connections in the ‘gang.’
So, when Anthony asked Makayla to meet him, she was nervous.
Really really nervous.
7–11 meetup
Makayla did not want to meet Anthony alone or in a private place. So, she requested a friend to accompany her to a
nearby 7–11, where she would meet him in public.
Anthony apparently tried to convince her to move to Portland.
But Makayla’s friend did not like the situation. She took Makayla away and convinced her not to do something stupid. She also requested Makayla not to meet Anthony again.
Of course, that was not how things turned out.
Roadside motel — the place that changed everything
After meeting Makayla and her friend, the men booked a room in a motel in Spokane. It seemed like Anthony did not want to leave the town without Makayla.
Anthony kept pestering Makayla to meet him. While the messages started lovey-dovey, they soon turned commanding and cold. He demanded Makayla meet him immediately.
Now, Makayla did not have a good feeling about this meeting. But Anthony still had a powerful influence on her, and she was very forgiving. He convinced her to meet him at the motel parking lot.
And that was when things started going south quickly.
Help me, please!
According to the surveillance footage from the motel, things were cordial between Makayla and Anthony. The two met at the parking lot, greeted each other, and went to the room holding hands.
However, the couple didn’t demonstrate that warmth inside the room.
Makayla posted a
Snapchat story asking for a ride from the motel. Unfortunately, it was pretty late, and none of her friends saw the post.
She never got that ride.
Bloody carjacker
That afternoon, several people called 911 about a man covered with blood trying to carjack multiple people.
The man was Anthony.
Anthony had initially tried to steal a car from a car dealership, but when that didn’t happen, he started threatening people and
trying to carjack them.
After multiple attempts, he finally got a car, but the dealership employees were already on him. They stopped him from escaping away and called the police.
When the police picked up Anthony, he was covered with scratch marks and minor injuries. He also behaved erratically, and the police took him to the hospital.
Finding Makayla
The next day, on February 28, 2020, a housekeeper entered Anthony’s room to clean it.
She found
bloody handprints on the doorknob and the lifeless, nude body of Makayla on the bed. With injuries all over her body, Makayla was stabbed many times.
The housekeeper immediately called 911, and the investigation began.
Crime scene
The police found the crime scene a complete mess, with almost everything in that room being broken or scattered. The officers found bloody pillows, bloody needles, bloody walls, and broken lamps.
It looked like there was a fierce struggle there.
The police also found a bloody trail that led them to where they arrested Anthony, covered in blood.
But that bloody path alone wasn’t enough. The police needed more evidence.
Autopsy report
Makayla’s autopsy report listed that she died from stab wounds to her upper chest and neck,
nearly decapitating her. Plus, she had been stabbed over 120 times.
But she didn’t go without giving a fierce fight.
The autopsy also mentioned that Makayla’s fingernails were ripped off from trying to hurt her murderer.
Finding Anthony’s partner
The housekeeper who found Makayla’s body told the police that she had seen Anthony with another guy. She didn’t know who that person was.
The police checked the motel records and found that the room was booked under
Chadd Benefield. And when they reached out to this Chad, he told them he rented a motel room for someone nicknamed Speedy. He didn’t know the actual name.
But when the police showed him the
security footage from the motel, he identified Speedy as Lionel White, Anthony’s armed friend.
Spilling the beans
The police tracked and arrested Lionel from another motel. They found a sharply pointed shaft that might be the murder weapon.
Lionel waived his right to a lawyer and went straight into talking mode.
He told the police that Makayla, Anthony, and he had taken drugs that night before the couple started arguing. To give them some privacy, he claimed to have left the room.
He maintained he
didn’t know what happened in that room after that.
But the police didn’t believe his story and arrested him for the second-degree murder of Makayla Young and possession of drugs.
The officers also charged Anthony with the
second-degree murder of Makayla, along with his carjacking charges.
