GA - Katherine Janness, 40, walking dog, both fatally stabbed, Piedmont Park, Atlanta, 28 July 2021

[Lore Listener]

Emma said “did you just see that?”
The person says something.
Emma: “that’s my fu$@ing girlfriend.”
The person says “what the f$&k.”
Emma says “yes!”
It’s beyond heartbreaking.

Damn, I probably should not have listened to that, but I did.

The thing that stood out for me, was just the utter horror and shock expressed by Emma and the passerby.

Emma telling the 911 operator, “She’s dead dead!” even though the operator didn’t ask if she was sure.
And then to the passerby, “Did you see that?” Not like, “Did you just see that girl lying in a pool of blood?” Or whatever. Like what they had both seen needed no—and had no—description. And then when she said it’s my girlfriend… The passerby didn’t say the expected “Oh my god, is she dead? Do you need help?” They said “What the f—-!”
I mean, we knew it was bad when the normally downplaying, stiff-upper-lip police were saying things like “gruesome” and “disfigured” and “mutilated.” But after listening to that call, I do not think this was a gang initiation or random mentally ill park denizen or that Bowie bit someone and they lost their temper and grabbed their knife.

I think there was a monster lurking in that park hunting for someone to do whatever atrocity they did to Katie.

I’m not kidding, if you have any doubts about whether you can handle listening to that call—just don’t.

 

[DobbyRN]

I just want them to find the person responsible for this so bad! I hope they have a suspect already and are just trying to gather enough evidence for a conviction. Surely, they must have DNA.

 

[Lore Listener]

Sorry, double post. I was legit pretty shaken by that 911 call.

 

[dotr]

I just want them to find the person responsible for this so bad! I hope they have a suspect already and are just trying to gather enough evidence for a conviction. Surely, they must have DNA.

Welcome to Ws DobbyRN, no doubt we all share that sentiment!

 

[coastal]

Why do you think that? I am just curious.

My guess: nobody reported hearing the dog bark.

 

[Shellinaya]

1) This is not a hate crime. Midtown has been LGBTQ neighborhood for many years…. And people are chill.

This case has me terrified and I don't even live in Atlanta, I live in a suburb. I bought pepper spray because of this and because I regularly walk my dog, often in wooded areas, but I don't do that after this. Most women in America know they can be potential targets of violence from random men for random reasons. I mean, I was told that from about age 10.

The reason I quoted Atlmom is because I think a lot of people here don't know about Georgia's new hate crime laws. It covers women victims as victims of a hate crime if the crime fits that definition. Victim only needs to be a woman, not defined in some other way. So if Katie was targeted due to her being a woman, that by itself could qualify as a hate crime.

Sorry I'm not sure how to do links here... source

My theory, and only a theory, because I have no special knowledge of this case (and it's frustratingly hard to find info on it) is that it was possibly gang related and the killer was waiting for a woman to come along, as some kind of initiation murder. Maybe didn't count on the dog, but the killer was on drugs so was able to kill both.

 

[Shellinaya]

<Quote Snipped>

According to news reports and police comments for a couple of days now, there is DNA on Bowie from someone other than Katie, so there is the assumption Bowie attacked the attacker. Would Bowie bite someone he knew?

A dog barking in a city, even frantic barking, is just background noise, not really reason to take special notice or alarm. Growling, like a biting dog, might attract attention. A human scream should have been noticed by anyone in the area, if there was screaming, or yelling, and I wonder why no one has come forward to say they heard that. Lot of people live in that general area. I think LE knows a lot they are not releasing to the public yet.

 

[DobbyRN]

According to news reports and police comments for a couple of days now, there is DNA on Bowie from someone other than Katie, so there is the assumption Bowie attacked the attacker. Would Bowie bite someone he knew?

A dog barking in a city, even frantic barking, is just background noise, not really reason to take special notice or alarm. Growling, like a biting dog, might attract attention. A human scream should have been noticed by anyone in the area, if there was screaming, or yelling, and I wonder why no one has come forward to say they heard that. Lot of people live in that general area. I think LE knows a lot they are not releasing to the public yet.

I agree

 

[DobbyRN]

Could there be a connection between this case and the Little Rock Arkansas murders. All of the LR killings took place in LR midtown between 1AM and 4AM.

 

[everybodhi]

Could there be a connection between this case and the Little Rock Arkansas murders. All of the LR killings took place in LR midtown between 1AM and 4AM.

I guess only the FBI knows the answer to that question. LR has video of their suspect, it's grainy but he has a distinctive gait and build. I hope they have video of the killer in Atlanta, it may take some time to track him in or around the park, it took LR a good while to release their video to the public.
If it's the same guy, he has escalated with alleged mutilation, or at least as far as we know. LR didn't report those crimes as "the most brutal ever seen" and "not just a stabbing", like APD.
One woman in her 40's survived 15 stab wounds by that LR guy!

 

[LotusPawprint]

According to news reports and police comments for a couple of days now, there is DNA on Bowie from someone other than Katie, so there is the assumption Bowie attacked the attacker. Would Bowie bite someone he knew?

A dog barking in a city, even frantic barking, is just background noise, not really reason to take special notice or alarm. Growling, like a biting dog, might attract attention. A human scream should have been noticed by anyone in the area, if there was screaming, or yelling, and I wonder why no one has come forward to say they heard that. Lot of people live in that general area. I think LE knows a lot they are not releasing to the public yet.

BBM - yes, if he or his owner was being attacked/stabbed.

Even a gentle dog who knows and loves a person who begins violently attacking them will defend themselves. Same for humans -- we don't surmise that when a victim has DNA under their fingernails, it's because they didn't know their attacker/killer.

 

[DobbyRN]

I guess only the FBI knows the answer to that question. LR has video of their suspect, it's grainy but he has a distinctive gait and build. I hope they have video of the killer in Atlanta, it may take some time to track him in or around the park, it took LR a good while to release their video to the public.
If it's the same guy, he has escalated with alleged mutilation, or at least as far as we know. LR didn't report those crimes as "the most brutal ever seen" and "not just a stabbing", like APD.
One woman in her 40's survived 15 stab wounds by that LR guy!

I agree with everything you wrote. I wonder if the fact that female in LR survived made him angry at women....if it is the same perpetrator. I know what you mean though....this one in Atlanta is different. It has me very shook up, frightened and so sad.

 

[Yemelyan]

Please post the link if you run across it again. Thanks!

Here you go... https://mobile.twitter.com/ZacOnTV/status/1421228472748417027

The tweet shows investigators returning to the park to load into their van a "large tree branch" that was at or near the scene. We haven't really discussed how this could be related to the crime. IMO they found something at autopsy that caused them to realize it was related.

The second picture in the tweet shows the scene and it appears family or friends have left a small memorial.

I too think the runner either didn't want to run by a sick/injured animal OR he thought he saw a sexual encounter occurring just off the path and tried to avoid.

 

[Razz]

I did a Google Earth search of the park where I think this happened. On the right side of the walkway and inside the gate is a small little green "house with a door". It looks like an elevator entry or maybe a bathroom. Just curious if anyone knows what that is. (Or could be I'm in the wrong spot).

 

[Yemelyan]

I don't know if the Little Rock offender is the same as Katherine's killer, I'm thinking probably not as his victims in LR skewed older and I'm not sure how a fit woman with a pitbull matches up with the established victimology there; however if they are different individuals, the one thing I believe they share is the paraphilia piquerism.

Piquerism is a trait of many sadists where they achieve sexual arousal from piercing and stabbing
another person, commonly in the breast, buttocks and groin. A hallmark of this type of sadism is that the offender may progress to the point where the ultimate satisfaction comes from causing fatal injury to the victim.

Here's more from an article about it:
"Piquerism is sometimes performed post-mortem. It generally refers to the penetration of human flesh, although it is sometimes practiced against animals. The piquer's range of activities for sating his or her needs can be a purposeful single prick with a pin or knife, multiple stab wounds to an eroticized area, or elaborate cutting, stabbing, biting and mutilation of a victim. Piquerism becomes part of the repertoire of many sadists, depending on their progress along the 'sadistic learning curve'.

"Often the sexual mechanisms inherent in piquerism are ignored during the assessment of sexually sadistic crimes. The prevalence rate of piquerism is unknown".

Source: Need to stab 'part of the repertoire of many sadists'

 

[Counttrarian]

I did a Google Earth search of the park where I think this happened. On the right side of the walkway and inside the gate is a small little green "house with a door". It looks like an elevator entry or maybe a bathroom. Just curious if anyone knows what that is. (Or could be I'm in the wrong spot).

There's an automated (new tech), porta potty there.

 

[Atlmom]

This case has me terrified and I don't even live in Atlanta, I live in a suburb. I bought pepper spray because of this and because I regularly walk my dog, often in wooded areas, but I don't do that after this. Most women in America know they can be potential targets of violence from random men for random reasons. I mean, I was told that from about age 10.

The reason I quoted Atlmom is because I think a lot of people here don't know about Georgia's new hate crime laws. It covers women victims as victims of a hate crime if the crime fits that definition. Victim only needs to be a woman, not defined in some other way. So if Katie was targeted due to her being a woman, that by itself could qualify as a hate crime.

Sorry I'm not sure how to do links here... source

My theory, and only a theory, because I have no special knowledge of this case (and it's frustratingly hard to find info on it) is that it was possibly gang related and the killer was waiting for a woman to come along, as some kind of initiation murder. Maybe didn't count on the dog, but the killer was on drugs so was able to kill both.

Interesting information about what constitutes a hate crime in Georgia. I was more specifically referring to hate crime based on sexual preference
in this largely populated LGBTQ neighborhood of Atlanta. WOW, so based on GA definition of “hate crime”….if this exact heinous murder had happened to an innocent male instead of a female… it wouldn’t automatically be considered a “hate crime”?

It’s worth noting again that APD is has taken a firm stand though the media that KJ murder is NOT considered a hate crime (at this point in time, anyway).

IMO, this is not gang related because I would expect guns and not knives as the primary weapon of choice for gang-related crime, at least in Atlanta.

 

[dotr]

Thinking about the release of the emergency call and wondering if there is a specific reason for doing that so early in the investigation.
Frankly, listening to the call shook me to the core, wondering if LE might have released it in the hopes it would rattle the perp, or perhaps for some other reason?
speculation, imo.

Atlanta police release girlfriend’s 911 call in ‘gruesome’ Piedmont Park stabbing of woman and her dog
''As Atlanta police continue to hunt the killer who stabbed a woman and her dog to death in a city park last week, investigators have released the chilling 911 call that the victim’s girlfriend made when she discovered her body.

"Sir, I’m at the entrance of Piedmont Park," a frantic Clark told the 911 dispatcher. "I just was searching for my girlfriend because I couldn’t find her. She’s dead! She’s here at Piedmont Park. Please help."

 

[Razz]

There's an automated (new tech), porta potty there.

Do you have to pay to get in? Is it big enough to wash off blood? Can you lock yourself in?

 

[TL4S]

Do you have to pay to get in? Is it big enough to wash off blood? Can you lock yourself in?

Maybe the runner just went into the park to use that bathroom.