It was late August 2019, and in Placerville – a small western town in northern California – the heat was so intense it shimmered over the Ponderosa pine forests, lofty mountains and ice-blue glacier lakes.
But I wasn’t there to enjoy the area’s rugged beauty.
Instead, I had been sent to the town with a photographer to investigate the disappearance of a young mother named Heather Orr Gumina.
Blonde and beautiful, and a devoted mother to her three children – a daughter then aged 14 plus two sons aged 13 and four – 33-year-old Heather had mysteriously vanished a month earlier after being released from hospital on July 15.
The following morning, her mother Joanna Russell, 56, visited her at home and saw her engaged in a furious bust-up with her husband, a burly man with a checkered past named Anthony Gumina.
That was the last time she would ever see her daughter. Later, Gumina called Russell to say his wife had stormed out – triggering a massive manhunt that was still in full swing by the time the Daily Mail arrived.
Next to the US Route 80 that runs past the tiny town of 10,000 souls, groups of Heather’s friends could be seen pinning missing posters along the side of the road.
I was sent to the town with a photographer to investigate the disappearance of a young mother named Heather Orr Gumina
Each one was adorned with a pink ribbon – Heather’s favorite color – and a photo that showed her smiling shyly.
Elsewhere, a huge police operation was taking place close to the Mormon Emigrant Trail in Pollock Pines, an even tinier city approximately 13 miles from Heather’s home.
It was there, on August 9, that Heather’s distinctive black and pink 2005 Infiniti G35 had been found, although there was no sign of its owner.
But one person wasn’t out looking for Heather: Gumina.
Instead, he refused to have anything to do with the search while telling police and his wife’s family that he had no idea where she could be or what could have happened to her.
It was a story he was to repeat to the Daily Mail when we visited him at the home he had shared with Heather to ask why – the only media outlet to do so.
Tall and thickset, carpet fitter Gumina was mooching in the yard when we arrived. Looking tense, he didn’t appear thrilled to see a reporter at his door but gently shook the hand I offered.
That gentleness did not extend to the photographer whose fingers 6ft 4″ Gumina chose to crunch.
Husband Anthony Gumina was mooching in the yard when we arrived. Looking tense, he didn’t appear thrilled to see a reporter at his door but gently shook the hand I offered
Perhaps that was because we had just brought up the subject of domestic violence.
At the time, Gumina, already serving a five-year probation sentence for burglary and witness intimidation, was also facing a domestic abuse case after violently headbutting his wife during a vicious fight in January 2019.
The day before she vanished, an angry Gumina got into a blowout bust-up with his wife over the case and delivered a vicious beating that left her hospitalized with a broken collarbone.
Although badly hurt and despite telling her mother her husband had attempted to kill her, Heather chose not to call 911 and returned home to Gumina – with the pair seen engaged in yet another row over the incident by Russell on the day she was reported missing.
A week after Heather disappeared, Gumina applied for a restraining order against her – claiming his petite wife had ‘punched me in the face [….] tried to tip wheelbarrow full of sand on my legs.’
When this was put to him by the Daily Mail and despite much evidence to the contrary, Gumina claimed to be a gentle giant and characterized the January headbutting incident as ‘a misunderstanding.’
As the conversation went on, the then 44-year-old became increasingly agitated – hopping from foot to foot while crocodile tears welled up in his eyes.
‘I want her to just show up and be OK and for everything to be alright. I didn’t do anything [to her]. I married her because I love her,’ he blathered.
He added: ‘Look, this marriage is not going to work out but I would never do anything like this [harming her]. I’m a lover. I’m not that kind of guy.
‘The sheriffs [deputies] were here for like 30 hours doing an investigation. They took my car. They walked every piece of land so I’m cleaning up again and again and again and I’m dealing with my wife. I don’t deserve this.’
During the interview, the 44-year-old became increasingly agitated – hopping from foot to foot while crocodile tears welled up in his eyes
Heather Gumina’s body was found three weeks after the interview, still in hospital clothes and wearing a medical ID tag – on the plot of land next door
Increasingly anxious to see the back of us, he hurried us off the property, promising a full interview the following morning. To nobody’s surprise, it never materialized.
Just three weeks later, Heather’s body was found – still in hospital clothes and wearing a medical ID tag – on the plot of land next door.
Gumina, now 50, was arrested and charged with Heather’s murder and, in June 2021, pleaded guilty to the crime
We didn’t know at the time, but we had been less than 100 feet from the young mom’s makeshift grave throughout our conversation with Gumina.
Gumina, now 50, was arrested and charged with Heather’s murder and, in June 2021, pleaded guilty to the crime.
In a statement in court, the carpet fitter told how he had ‘slammed her down onto the floor’ and used his forearm to hold ‘Heather’s right arm over her head by pressing down on her throat and arm at the same time’ and hadn’t moved it until she stopped breathing.
All this happened on the day she was reported missing. Despite her friends and family’s best efforts and the pretty pink ribbons they employed to attract attention to her missing posters, Heather had never been missing at all.
Instead, she was dead all along – murdered by the husband she had adored and who would go on to tell the court that his wife was to blame for her own death because she had hurt his pride and honor.
He also admitted to looping a rope around his wife’s neck and using it to drag her out of the house before burying it with her in her makeshift grave where it was later found, still tied around the 33-year-old, who had also been wrapped in a carpet.
Sentenced to life with the chance of parole, Gumina is now behind bars at the High Desert State Prison in Susanville.
Located 230 miles north of his former home in Placerville, the maximum-security lock-up has space for 2,324 level IV prisoners.
In California, level IV refers to the most dangerous offenders: murderers, pedophiles and gang members, all of whom are held in thick-walled cells for up to 16 hours a day.
Gumina does not become eligible for parole until 2038.
