The Piedmont Park Conservancy has started a fund for safety improvements at the park, the group said Wednesday.
The Safe Haven Fund will help support safety improvements recommended by the city of Atlanta and other advisers, the group said. An unnamed donor will match gifts up to $100,000 through the end of the month. Donations can be made online at www.piedmontpark.org.
The announcement comes seven weeks after a brutal homicide inside the Midtown park. In the early morning hours of July 28, Katie Janness and her dog, Bowie, were found dead, according to Atlanta police. The deaths remain under investigation and no arrests have been made, but investigators have said the case remains a priority.
Credit: Family photo
Credit: Family photo
When Janness didn’t return from a walk, her girlfriend, Emma Clark, used a phone tracker to locate her and Bowie. After a short walk from the couple’s home, Clark found both Janness and Bowie dead, about 100 feet apart, Clark’s father said days after the killings. Janness, 40, had been stabbed multiple times.
The homicide was the first inside the park in about 12 years, according to police.
A security camera at an intersection near the park’s entrance captured the last known picture of Janness and her dog. But other cameras in the area weren’t working, including one facing the entrance, Clark’s family members have said.
The city has nine cameras inside Piedmont Park, but the technology is obsolete and they aren’t connected to the Atlanta Police Department’s Video Integration Center, the city’s chief operating officer, Jon Keen, said at an Aug. 3 press conference.
Anyone with information on the crimes is asked to contact the APD homicide unit at 404-546-4235 or Crime Stoppers Atlanta at 404-577-8477. Tipsters can remain anonymous and may also text information to 274637 or visit the Crime Stoppers website.
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