It was supposed to be a quiet, social night in Savannah, the kind of evening where three adults could just relax and have a few drinks. A local woman had reached out to 40-year-old Alfonso Warner through an adult lifestyle website—a site she had used to meet him once before. This time, however, she brought along her boyfriend, 48-year-old Arthur Gaynor. According to investigators, the three of them spent the early hours of November 29th socializing at the MAA Benton Apartments. For a while, the mood was calm, and the conversation flowed easily.
But as the clock struck 1:30 a.m., the atmosphere inside the apartment shifted. Arthur Gaynor reportedly started feeling a sense of disrespect. It wasn’t anything loud or violent at first, but the tension was enough for his girlfriend to suggest it was time to leave. They decided to cut the night short, and the couple began to get dressed so they could head home and put the evening behind them.
They never made it out of the door together. While the couple was preparing to leave, investigators say Warner suddenly emerged from another room with a gun. Without a heated physical fight or a long-drawn-out argument, he allegedly opened fire. A single shot hit Gaynor in the stomach, turning a social gathering into a crime scene in a matter of seconds.
The woman didn’t wait for an ambulance to find them. Panicked and desperate to save her boyfriend, she helped Gaynor into her car and began racing toward the hospital herself. While driving, she called 911 to report the shooting. Despite her quick thinking and the efforts of medical staff who met them along the way, the wound was too severe. Arthur Gaynor later died, leaving behind a community that remembered him for his kindness and a family now searching for answers.
While the tragedy was unfolding, the woman knew she had the key to finding the shooter. She logged back into the adult dating website and showed Savannah police Warner’s profile and photos. That digital footprint gave detectives exactly what they needed to identify their suspect. It wasn’t long before the U.S. Marshals and local police tracked Warner down to a Red Roof Inn in nearby Bryan County.
On December 4th, police moved in and arrested Warner without any further violence. He is now facing serious charges, including murder and aggravated assault. For the investigators, the digital evidence and the witness testimony paint a clear picture of a night that went horribly wrong over a perceived slight.
As the case moves through the court system, the community is left reflecting on how quickly a social night can take a dark turn. Arthur Gaynor’s friends describe him as a man with a warm spirit and a deep sense of compassion. Now, his name is tied to a courtroom docket, and his loved ones are left to wonder how a simple feeling of disrespect could lead to such a permanent loss.
