The Atlanta Police Department’s online list of cold homicide cases includes unsolved murders that took place as long ago as 1971 and as recently as 2013. The victims’ ages range from eight to 87.
The list spans a diverse group of people whose lives were stolen from them, leaving their family members haunted and troubled by a lack of justice served. The victims include a police officer and a young college graduate; a child and a grandmother; a downtown hotel maid and a man who worked in a Buckhead bar.
The APD has a cold case unit that looks at all cold cases on a regular basis, a spokeswoman said. Depending on the case, the unit may resubmit evidence for processing, re-interview witnesses or follow up on anything new that may have been received regarding the case.
The cold case section of the APD website was started in early 2016, and cases are added periodically. This article will be updated as new cases are made available.
APD asks the public to alert police if they have information regarding the murder of anyone on the list. Crime Stoppers Atlanta can be reached at 404-577-8477, and the Atlanta Police Department Fugitive Unit can be reached at 404-546-4220.
All information is according to the APD website or previous coverage from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Victim: Officer Alfred Johnson
Year found: 1980
Address found: 470 Flat Shoals Ave. S.E.
Age: 30
On Feb. 16, Atlanta police officer Alfred Johnson was working at an off-duty job at the Big Buy Supermarket when two males came in to the store to rob it, one armed with a shotgun and the other with a .38 caliber pistol. Johnson confronted the suspects, and was shot by both. He died later that day at Grady Hospital. The robbers fled the scene with cash and food stamps.
Officer Johnson's homicide was featured on the TV show "America's Most Wanted," filmed in 2011.
Victim: Patrick Cotrona
Year found: 2013
Address found: May Avenue S.E. near Flat Shoals Avenue
Age: 23
On the evening of May 25, Patrick Cotrona, a videogame engineer, was walking from his home in East Atlanta to a local pub when he and two friends were robbed at gunpoint by a male suspect. The suspect shot Cotrona in the abdomen, killing him, and then fled in a dark four-door vehicle.
A detective said he believes the murder was connected to two other robberies that took place the night Cotrona was killed.
“He was a non-confrontational person who didn’t look for trouble and, I assume, didn’t think trouble would look for him,” his sister, Kate Krumm, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2013. “And he died for nothing.”
Cotrona, a Georgia Tech graduate who grew up in Peachtree City, loved living in East Atlanta, his sister said.
RELATED VIDEO:
Victim: Ronald Clark
Year found: 2013
Address found: 2053 Marietta Blvd.
Age: 57
On April 26, Ronald Clark was found shot and beaten in the road next to his van. He was transported to Grady Hospital, where he later died.
Clark had just cashed a check and gotten into his van to head back to work. As he drove his van in northwest Atlanta, a man emerged from the back of the van and struck him with a hammer. Investigators believe Clark fought back before he was shot by the suspect.
Victim: Gregory Smith
Year found: 2010
Address found: 2388 El Paso Road S.W.
Age: 47
On Aug. 7, Gregory Smith was found shot to death inside of his red Ford Edge.
Smith had arrived in Atlanta from South Carolina with his wife. They had only been at his mother's home in the Ben Hill neighborhood for roughly 30 minutes, when he said he was going to step out for a moment. Twenty minutes later, Smith's older brother, Reginald, found him dead inside his car.
Victim: Doo Ran Yoo
Year found: 2009
Address found: 2860 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive
Age: 80
On Sept. 1, Doo Ran Yoo was shot to death inside of her family-run laundrymat.
Victim: Patrick Boland
Year found: 2009
Address found: 1073 Piedmont Ave.
Age: 43
On May 28, Patrick Boland was found stabbed to death at Piedmont Park.
Victim: Iman Cannon
Year found: 2008
Address found: 2521 Donald Lee Hollowell Pkwy.
Age: 21
On May 13, Iman Cannon was found shot to death behind a building.
Victim: Eula Tucker
Year found: 2005
Address found: 625 Joseph Lowery Blvd. #11
Age: 77
On July 18, Eula Tucker was found beaten to death inside of an apartment.
Name: Mattie Jackson
Year found: 2003
Address found: 496 Rankin St.
Age: 87
On July 10, Mattie Jackson was found stabbed to death inside her house. A purse strap was found beside her, but her purse was not found on the scene.
The stabbing may have started with a scam artist knocking on her Old Fourth Ward neighborhood door, a detective said in 2016. Someone stole checks that belonged to the victim and even passed a stolen check before Jackson's body was found.
The grandmother put up a fight and the killer, or killers, had to cut the purse from her grip, the detective said.
Thirteen years after the murder, her granddaughter, Tracy Jackson, told Channel 2 Actions News that putting a name to the murder matters to her.
RELATED VIDEO:
Victim: Unknown — unidentified bones
Year found: 1999
Address found: 532 Woodlawn Ave.
Age: 25-40 years old
On Aug. 16, skeletal remains were found in the rear of an abandoned house. The bones are belived to have been a black female, 25-40 years old, approximately 5 feet, 3 inches tall.
Victim: Johnny Howard
Year found: 1999
Address found: 400 Nolan St.
Age: 27
Johnny Howard was found shot to death in Chosewood Park on the night of June 1.
Victim: Melissa Dawn Wolfenbarger
Year found: 1999
Address found: 858 Avon Ave.
Age: 21
On April 29, a head was found in a wooded area. More severed remains were found nearby on June 3. The remains were unidentified until 2003, when the Fulton County Medical Examiners Office identified them as Wolfenbarger.
Wolfenbarger’s parents last spoke to her on Thanksgiving 1998 when she called from her husband’s grandparents’ home, according to a police report.
The husband never reported her missing or told her family of her disappearance. Police interviews found that Wolfenbarger had not been in contact with her husband since December 1998. The husband “eventually told authorities in 2000 that he saw her walking down the street near their home in March or April of 1999,” the report said.
Victim: Benita Tolbert
Year found: 1997
Address found: 482 Old Wheat St.
Age: 36
On Aug. 25, the decomposed body of Benita Tolbert was found inside of an abandoned house.
Tolbert was a mother of two. Nineteen years after Tolbert’s death, her mother told Channel 2 Action News that her daughter was a beatiful person who loved life.
RELATED VIDEO:
Victim: Terrance Williams
Year found: 1996
Address found: Kings Smith Road and Hutchens Road
Age: 21
On Sept. 2, Terrance Williams was shot and killed while he was driving.
Family photo
Family photo
Victim: Pauline Cerasoli
Year attack occurred: 1996
Address attack occurred: 210 Peachtree St., room 6414
Age: Attacked at 56; died at 71
On Feb. 16, 56-year-old Pauline Cerasoli was found badly beaten and strangled at the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel.
An assailant pushed his way into her room and crushed her skull. She was left in a coma and died 15 years later.
Victim: Elia Banderas
Year found: 1995
Address found: 210 Peachtree St., room 6010
Age: 31
On Dec. 30, Elia Banderas was found beaten to death inside of room 6010 of the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel, where she worked as a maid.
Victim: Gloria Raines
Year found: 1991
Address found: 896 Westmont Road
Age: 41
On June 5, Gloria Raines was found dead inside of a vacant house.
Victim: Felecia McGhee
Year found: 1990
Address found: 93 Allen Temple Court
Age: 19
On Sept. 14, Felecia McGhee was found beaten and drowned in the bathtub of her apartment.
Victim: Carol Holman
Year found: 1990
Address found: 1944 Piedmont Circle, room 334
Age: 21
On April 6, Holman was found strangled to death inside of a Holiday Inn hotel.
Victim: John Macomber
Year found: 1987
Address found: 41 Irby St. NE
Age: 36
John Macomber was found shot and killed inside of Five Paces Inn, the bar where he worked.
Victim: Victor Mitchell
Year found: 1986
Address found: 5500 South Terminal Pkwy.
Age: 26
On Dec. 22, Mitchell was found dead in the trunk of his rental car in a parking lot at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
Victim: Keith Manning
Year found: 1985
Address found: On 14th Street between Crescent Avenue and Peachtree Street
Age: 20
On April 20, Keith Manning was found shot to death inside of a vehicle that crashed. He was possibly killed by a man driving a taxi during a road rage incident, according to APD.
Victim: Owen Garmon
Year found: 1985
Address found: 1440 Middleton St. #79
Age: 33
On March 14, Owen Garmon was found beaten to death inside of his apartment.
Victim: Elizabeth Bertolino
Year found: 1982
Address found: 100 Techwood Dr.
Age: 48
On Feb. 20, Elizabeth Bertolino was found stabbed to death inside a walkway connecting the old Omni Hotel and the Georgia World Congress Center. Her purse was taken from the scene.
Victim: Robert Mills
Year found: 1981
Address found: 1400 Donnelly Ave. #D-2
Age: 59
On Feb. 4, Robert Mills was found stabbed to death inside of his apartment.
Victim: Faye Dollar
Year found: 2014; reported missing in 1980
Address found: 1470 Spring St.
Age: 22
On Dec. 4, 2014, Faye Dollar was found in the trunk of her vehicle in the parking lot of the Admiral Benson Inn. She was reported missing by her family on Dec. 1, 1980. She died from a blow to her head.
Victim: William Converse
Year found: 1980
Address found: 1265 Lakewood Ave.
Age: 43
On July 17, William Converse was found stabbed to death outside the back of the warehouse where he lived. It appeared that the warehouse had been burglarized.
Victim: Louis Zaglin
Year found: 1978
Address found: 2424 Piedmont Road N.E.
Age: 53
On Jan. 29, Louis Zaglin was at a flea market when he saw a man inside of his parked van. When he approached the van, the man shot him and fled.
Victim: Judge Marion
Year found: 1977
Address found: 1701 Northside Dr., room 240
Age: 20
On Sept. 25, Judge Marion was found dead inside a room at the Howard Johnson motel. He had been beaten and bound.
Victim: Sherri Swalley
Year found: 1973
Address found: 308 Skipper Place N.W.
Age: 8
On Dec. 23, an APD officer found 8-year-old Sherri Swalley raped and stabbed to death on a dirt bank behind apartments. The victim’s address, as listed on a police report, was in Ohio.
Victim: Johnny Levitt
Year found: 1973
Address found: 957 Blue Ridge Ave.
Age: 33
On Aug. 18, Johnny Levitt was found shot to death in a driveway.
Victim: Obediah Reaves
Year found: 1971
Address found: 227 Mitchell St.
Age: 28
On April 26, Obediah Reaves, a security guard, was shot and killed during a robbery attempt inside of the Star Loan Company.
About the Author
