Police recovered the body of a missing 20-year-old from the bottom of a well in Tuscaloosa County Sunday, according to the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit.

Kip Hart, the assistant commander of the VCU, said the victim, Marka "Willow" Watkins, was last seen in the Bessemer McCalla area on June 17th and was reported missing by her grandmother on June 25th.

Hart said someone submitted a tip about Watkins' location to the sheriff's office Saturday, and on Sunday deputies and employees of the Tuscaloosa County Road and Bridge Department excavated a large area around a well outside a vacant home on 10517 Will Walker Lane. They found a body in the bottom of the well and police have tentatively identified the victim was Watkins.

Hart said police believe Watkins was at a home on Tanya Drive in Tuscaloosa County when she was assaulted and killed by two men who then took her to the house on Will Walker Lane and threw her body into the well.

Hart said the Violent Crimes Unit has charged Kendal Tyler Battles, 29, and Joseph Brandon Nevels, 20, with Murder and Abuse of a Corpse. The investigation is ongoing and more arrests are possible.

 

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