CARROLLTON, GA -- The couple charged in the murder of a University of West Georgia student will make their first court appearance Friday.

Joshua Clay, 31, and Farrah Strength, 29, are both charged with murder of 21-year-old Marcelle "Marci" Elliott. Clay is also charged with kidnapping and concealing a death.

Marci, who was spending the summer at home with her parents in Cobb County, disappeared last Thursday night after going to Carrollton to pick a book up from a friend's house. Officials believe it may have been part of a plot to lure Marci to Carrollton to kill her.

She called her mom, Yvette Elliott, when she arrived in Carrollton, but police said that was the last call Marci made. There was no cell phone activity afterwards. Loved ones began to worry when Marci didn't show up for work the next day at Due West Academy in Marietta, when her mom also works.

Friends and family told 11Alive News that it was out of character for Marci to simply disappear.

Her body was found Wednesday night, when police say one of the two suspects led them to her body 50 feet off of a secluded gravel road.

In the days leading up to the discovery, police say Elliott's father David Elliott found Farrah Strength's cell phone number in his daughter's records. Police say the two talked over the phone and Strength was cooperating, trying to make the family believe she was helping them.



Family spokeswoman Sarah Gruba says Strength lied to the Elliots.



"She was a big advocate in the search for Marci," Gruba said. "She tried to help. She's kept in very close contact with the family for the last six days, and it wasn't until the last two days that people started to suspect that there was foul play on her behalf."



Gruba says Strength and Marci had been friends but had a falling out several months ago then recently made up. 

Police say Strength's story started to unravel in the past few days, and they now believe she may have been the last person to see Marci alive.