Gordon had no idea how it had gotten there, authorities said. She did not remember being shot.

What she did remember, Gordon told Atlanta Police Department investigators, was an argument with her ex-boyfriend, Jerrontae Cain, in May 2017, the same month her mysterious symptoms began.

Gordon told authorities at the hospital that she had been in her vehicle during their fight when the driver’s side window broke and crashed on her face, knocking her unconscious.

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When she briefly awoke soon after, she said, she realized she was no longer in her vehicle but Cain’s.

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Cain took her to his mother’s home, Gordon told police, where they treated her for the wound on her head that she believed came from broken glass. They did not take her to a hospital or seek professional medical care, authorities said.

It would take more than two years, an FBI search for Cain and a standoff between the man and police before a jury would hear investigators’ theory about what really happened the night Cain and Gordon fought.

In January 2019, a year and a half after Gordon was taken to the hospital, authorities arrested Cain. Gordon had not been injured by glass, police said, but by a bullet from a gun that Cain fired.

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This week, a jury in Fulton County Superior Court found Cain, now 39, guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony crime and possession of a firearm by a felon, according to a statement from the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office. Cain had a lengthy criminal record and had been convicted of sexual battery in 2010.

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He was sentenced to 25 years in prison on the assault charges, followed by five years of probation once he is released.

After Gordon, now 42, was taken to the hospital in 2017, authorities questioned Cain about the alleged altercation, according to the district attorney’s office. Cain told police he was with Gordon the night she was injured but said the head trauma was caused by a vehicle accident. Her car had crashed into a tree, Cain told authorities, which caused the driver’s side window to shatter.

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But when authorities investigated the alleged incident, which took place outside Gordon’s home, their findings “proved to be inconsistent with Cain’s explanation,” according to the district attorney’s office. And Gordon’s injuries, doctors determined, were “consistent with being shot in the head."

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A warrant was issued for Cain’s arrest in 2017, but he fled.

In February 2018, the FBI’s Atlanta field office requested the public’s help in locating Cain. A tip to Crime Stoppers Atlanta was conveyed to authorities, according to Patch.com, and in January 2019 the FBI-led Atlanta Metro Major Offender (AMMO) task force found Cain at an address in the Atlanta suburb of College Park.

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Cain hid in the attic of the house and engaged in a two-hour standoff with the FBI Atlanta SWAT team. He eventually surrendered, Patch reported, and was taken into custody.

During his trial, Gordon’s friends testified that Cain had a history of abusing her. On several occasions, they said, Gordon had bruises on her body and multiple black eyes.

The bullet remains in Gordon’s head, officials said, because doctors determined that any attempt to surgically remove it could be deadly.

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