Morning, y’all! The rain should finally move out by midmorning, with high temperatures approaching 50 degrees later on.
News wise, we’ve got the latest on the push to shut down BioLab’s Conyers facility, Young Thug’s request to come home and Jamie Foxx’s heartfelt (and Atlanta-centric) stand-up special. Plus, a new landing spot for former Brave Max Fried.
But first: The AJC gets results.
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FINDING ANSWERS
Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
A few years back, the AJC put together a sort of mini seminar focused on narrative writing. I joined in and ended up putting together a story about an armored truck spilling a bunch of money on 285.
My buddy Josh Sharpe?
Well, he decided to dig into a decades-old South Georgia murder case — and helped free an innocent man along the way. Now it seems he aided authorities in arresting another suspect, too.
- The GBI announced this week the arrest of Erik Sparre, who stands charged with gunning down Harold and Thelma Swain inside Rising Daughter Baptist Church in March of 1985.
But let me back up a bit.
The Swain murders went unsolved for years. Then a new set of investigators circled back to an old suspect. One their predecessors had ruled out: a man named Dennis Perry.
Despite assuring investigators he was working hours away in Atlanta that night, they arrested him. And to help secure his 2003 conviction, paid a witness $12,000 to say he’d admitted his murderous plot beforehand.
That last part, of course, wasn’t disclosed to the defense or the jury. And wasn’t revealed until many years later, when a podcast called “Undisclosed” started snooping around.
Then our friend Josh joined the investigative party.
- “It was utterly obvious to me that something was not right,” he told me Tuesday. “Because the evidence literally didn’t match up. The state wasn’t even telling a cohesive story about Dennis Perry.”
His subsequent report — dubbed “The Imperfect Alibi” and published in 2020 with an accompanying short documentary film — helped lead to Perry’s exoneration.
And, ultimately, this week’s arrest.
You’ll have to read the story for full details, but Josh’s reporting poked plenty of holes in the alibi of Sparre, a purported white supremacist. That prompted the Georgia Innocence Project to conduct a DNA test, which, according to the GBI, put Sparre at the scene of the killings.
That agency isn’t saying much else, so it’s unclear what led them to arrest Sparre now, several years later. But Perry, the man who spent 20 years behind bars, remains hopeful.
“It’s not about me — it’s about justice for the Swains,” he said. “The wheels of justice move real slow.”
Keep an eye out for Josh’s book on the case, “The Man No One Believed: The Untold Story of the Georgia Church Murders.” It drops next summer (and yes, he’s making last-minute updates).
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BOILING OVER
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Residents poured into the Rockdale County Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday and called for the shutdown of the BioLab facility in Conyers, which caught fire in September and sent a chemical cloud drifting throughout the area.
Commissioners tried to squelch the comments, citing pending litigation. Which doesn’t make sense and also didn’t work.
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PIPES AND POCKETBOOKS
Cobb County commissioners, meanwhile, voted to increase water and sewer rates by about 18% over the next five years. Expect the average bill to go up about $2 starting in April.
- DeKalb County leaders postponed a decision on their plans for more drastic rate increases until late January.
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HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS?
As part of his recent plea arrangement, Atlanta rapper Young Thug must stay out of … well, Atlanta. And the 10 or so counties surrounding it. But now he’s asking a judge to shave a few miles off so he can fraternize with family over Christmas.
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‘CORNER OF DEATH’
Credit: John Spink/AJC
Credit: John Spink/AJC
Columnist Bill Torpy takes us on a trip down memory (nightmare?) lane on Atlanta’s McDaniel Street, a once-infamous location for crime that’s now pitched for redevelopment. But some residents say the Pittsburgh neighborhood is already doing just fine, thank you.
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SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS
» Braves: Beloved Atlanta ace Max Fried landed a massive new eight-year contract with the New York Yankees. Which is a bummer. But we’re happy for him!
» Bulldogs: Georgia Congressman Mike Collins took to the floor of the U.S. Capitol to suggest Texas head on back to the Big 12. (Expect the Longhorns to be on UGA’s 2025 schedule when it’s revealed today.)
» Hawks: The NBA Cup catches plenty of flack, as a general concept. But ahead of tonight’s quarterfinal game in New York, Atlanta players said they’re in it to win it.
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EXPENSIVE ACTS
Credit: Terence Rushin/State Farm Arena
Credit: Terence Rushin/State Farm Arena
Feeling like the cost of concert tickets keeps rising? You’re not alone. And not wrong. The AJC’s Savannah Sicurella reports that, even setting service fees and general inflation aside, other factors continue driving up prices.
- “When you have a secondary market and an artist sees they’re selling tickets for more than 300% more, at some point, you’re like, ‘Well, we’re leaving a lot of money on the table,’” one local entertainment attorney told her.
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STAND-UP GUY
Actor Jamie Foxx’s recorded his new Netflix stand-up special in Atlanta — and it’s all about the stroke that almost killed him in 2023, his subsequent stay at Piedmont Hospital and his recovery.
“You don’t see gratitude expressed like that very often,” a Piedmont staffer who attended the taping said.
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MORE TO EXPLORE
» Kemp vows to push hurricane relief package in legislative session
» ‘Party house’ parents begin court fight after indictments, arrests in DeKalb
» ParkMobile to pay up to $32M to settle data breach claims
» Fall chill hasn’t frozen metro Atlanta housing market. 2025 could heat up
» Atlanta movie critics give Best Film nod to ‘Anora’
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ON THIS DATE
Dec. 11, 1995
An armed man robbed Zoo Atlanta, sticking up the security office after hours and getting away with about $15,000 cash. Which is pretty wild — but not as wild as this line included in the short Atlanta Journal write-up:
“Police had no leads late Sunday. None of the zoo’s residents appeared to be a suspect, even though some of them have spent time behind bars.”
Credit: File photo
Credit: File photo
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PHOTO OF THE DAY
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
AJC photographer Arvin Temkar captured Outkast rapper Big Boi during a bike giveaway at Kipps Way Academy in Atlanta. He gave the bikes to middle schoolers recognized for academic improvement and good attendance.
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ONE MORE THING
Your annual reminder that Atlanta native Brenda Lee was somehow only 13 years old when she recorded “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” Today’s her 80th birthday!
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Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact me at tyler.estep@ajc.com.
Until next time.
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