Anthony Nunnally, 21, faces two counts of first-degree murder over the deaths of Sierra Evans, 19, and Gabriella Marie Arellano, 17, with prosecutors saying he admitted what he had done to a fellow gang member wearing a wire in Cook County Jail.
A 21-year-old Chicago man has been charged with murdering two teenagers — both of whom, prosecutors say, he was dating at the time of their deaths — just over a year apart on the city’s Far South Side. Anthony Nunnally faces two counts of first-degree murder after police identified him as the gunman who shot and killed 19-year-old Sierra Evans in September 2024 and 17-year-old Gabriella Marie Arellano in October 2025, in the East Side neighbourhood. Outlining the cases in court on Wednesday, prosecutors said Nunnally, whom they described as a gang member, later admitted what he had done to another gang member who was secretly wearing a wire in jail.
The 2024 killing of Sierra Evans
Prosecutors said Nunnally had been dating Evans for about a month when, on a night out with her and two other people, he had been drinking and the group returned to a home. There, they allege, he became angry, accused one of those present of stealing his marijuana, choked Evans when she did not defend him and punched a hole in the wall. He was told to go home and his mother collected him, prosecutors said.
According to prosecutors, Nunnally later FaceTimed someone in the house, saying he was coming back and telling them to leave the back door open. Witnesses reported hearing automatic gunfire, and when asked what had happened, Nunnally — using a derogatory term for an African American — said he had just shot someone and displayed a gang sign, prosecutors said. Evans’ body was found the next day in the 9500 block of South Avenue N with multiple gunshot wounds, according to police. The date of her death was 28 September 2024.
The 2025 killing of Gabriella Arellano
Just over a year later, Arellano’s mother dropped her daughter off on the Far South Side in what would be the last time she saw her alive. Nunnally had been dating the 17-year-old for a short period when he allegedly killed her on 26 October 2025, in the 11000 block of South Mackinaw Avenue.
Prosecutors said the pair went out for dinner with another person and were captured on surveillance video at the restaurant. Later, in a nearby vacant lot, a Ring doorbell camera recorded the sound of a single gunshot followed by Nunnally and another person running away, prosecutors said. Arellano’s body was found in that lot.
Arrest, jail and an alleged admission
Two days after Arellano’s death, on 28 October, Nunnally was taken into custody in Dolton by Chicago police and members of the US Marshals Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force over an unrelated armed carjacking. Prosecutors said a 19-year-old man’s vehicle was taken at gunpoint on 2 October in the 12900 block of South Muskegon Avenue in Hegewisch — the same general area of the Far South Side where the homicide investigations unfolded. He initially faced a felony charge of aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm, and was already being held in Cook County Jail on the carjacking and armed robbery arrest when the murder charges were filed — detention that allowed investigators to pursue the alleged jailhouse admission described in court.
Prosecutors said that while in custody, Nunnally told a member of the same gang, who was wearing a wire, that he had no choice but to kill Arellano because she was going to “back-door” him — a term meaning to betray or kill him — claiming she intended to tell a rival gang his location.
The judge noted that Nunnally had unlawfully possessed firearms on multiple occasions — three times as an adult and twice as a juvenile. He was returned to Cook County Jail after the hearing, with his next court date set for 26 August. Public records showed no conviction, plea agreement or final resolution in either homicide case as of the latest available reports; the allegations remain pending, and Nunnally is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
