Walter Threat was the last person to see Laura Cooley alive, according to her family.
That was Dec. 22.
On Friday, DeKalb County police arrested Threat, 67, in connection with her killing. Threat remains in the DeKalb County jail on a murder charge.
Cooley was the third woman in a matter of weeks to be found dead in DeKalb County although the three cases are not connected, according to police.
Threat and Cooley were last seen together at a home on Eastwood Drive near Candler Road in Decatur, according to arrest warrants obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Family members told authorities they saw Threat and Cooley leaving the home together.
When questioned by police, Threat denied seeing Cooley and gave them conflicting stories, despite photo evidence that he was with her between 11 p.m. Dec. 22 and 2 a.m. Dec. 23, according to the warrant. It wasn’t known who took the pictures, but authorities said Cooley had on the same clothes in the pictures as when she was found dead. Cooley, 59, had been shot under her armpit.
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Police described Cooley and Threat as acquaintances.
A police report obtained by the AJC indicates an argument might have led to the killing.
A neighbor said she heard loud arguing outside her home and then a car door close. Another witness told police they heard a gunshot that night, according to the report.
A man walking in the area found Cooley lying face down outside the Eastwood Drive home.
DeKalb police have said Cooley’s death is not related to two other cases of women found dead on walking paths.
On Dec. 12, Shantrelle Monroe’s body was found by hikers on a walking trail near the Mainstreet playground outside Stone Mountain. Investigators believe she was shot on the trail.
More than two weeks later on Dec. 31, Maya Mitchell was found lying next to a path at Glen Emerald Park on Bouldercrest Road. Investigators believe Mitchell was shot in the park and was there for at least five hours before her body was discovered.
DeKalb police said no arrests have been made in those cases.
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