GA GA - Katherine Janness & Dog Bowie Fatally Stabbed - Piedmont Park, Atlanta, 2021 #5

[Yemelyan]

I don’t want this to sound like blaming the victim but anyone in the park at that time was technically not a law abiding citizen. The park was closed. I don’t think it was widely patrolled or enforced, no idea if that changed.

This actually reinforces my point. If you are in an area where people are openly having sexual encounters, doing drugs, etc then -- even if you yourself are not partaking in those activities but are merely breaking a rule about being there -- you are probably not going to look too carefully at anything going on around you.

I live in an urban area and have seen my share of "inappropriate" things happening in streets, parks, subways -- I remain aware of my surroundings as it relates to me but I'm not staring at or memorizing the appearance of these individuals. I am "minding my own business" about these minor illegalities so that I don't draw any criminal attention to myself. Plus I don't want to see public sex acts or people shooting up.

My point was, this helped out the murderer of Katie and Bowie (whether intended or not) because, due to the high likelihood of seeing some private acts in that park, people passing through were not scrutinizing anything too closely.

 

[hexicon]

I agree with Yemelyan's point about not looking too closely. My dad, lifelong federal LE, always said that the only people that will make eye contact after midnight are cops and criminals. I definitely see that principle applying here.

Plus, think about how many times as true crime readers we have read someone saying "I thought it was a pile of clothes" or "I thought it was a garbage bag." The jogger could have seen something that made him uncomfortable enough to make him turn around without really recognizing that the thing in the pathway was a murdered dog.

 

[RetLawyer]

Like you all, I would LOVE to know what the jogger told police he saw. He jogs in and comes back out in just a few seconds. Why? Even if he just changed his mind and came out, having saw nothing, that is very significant. Because he SHOULD have seen Bowie if he was there. Had the attack not happened yet? Or did he see him and left. That tells us a lot, and of course, what else did he see or hear?

I do agree with Quell and Yemelyen that the location could be significant. Why here? Even at night, there is going to be some foot traffic there. Risky. How long did it take to inflict the injuries to Katie? Bowie I think undoubtedly met his end in seconds. but Katie took some time. Was it a minute, two, five, 10? Was the killer done? or interrupted? I remember either from the autopsy report or Joe Scott Morgan's discussion of cuts to the back of her neck. Was the killer going to try to remove her head and got interrupted? By the jogger? EC? Someone else?

And I would like to know a little more about those moments when EC finds them. Is her arrival captured on the camera? Who was the man she talked to overheard on the 911 call? Who if anyone else did EM see? Where was Katie's phone found? Where was the leash? Soooo many questions.

So, I believe the murder had take place by the time the jogger went in. He was in and out in 47 seconds. That's a fair amount of time if you're jogging and this may have been he turning around point on his run. I suggest that his headlamp did not illuminate a broad area to his right or left. My guess is that the headlamp actually gave him "tunnel vision" and he was looking straight ahead on his run. He might not have seen anything. He came out of the Park at 12:46; Katie was at the Rainbow intersection at 12:09 am where she was crossing Piedmont St. from 10th on the south side to 10th on the north side. Depending on where she entered the Park, she could have been in the Park for about 20 min to half an hour. Listening to several forensic pathologists recently about Katie's autopsy, they surmised that the attack took as little as 3 min. or up to 10 min. It was much faster than we all think.

That still leaves plenty of questions about where the killer entered the Park, where he was when Katie and Bowie entered the Park. Did Katie and Bowie enter from the 12th St. entrance or 10th & CA.

Most horrifying to me is that Emma was likely on her way home when the murder was taking place or had just taken place. That makes me want to throw up.

 

[Quell]

Why would the jogger turn left into the park, come out less than a minute later and then continue on Tenth in the same direction he was heading before turning into park?

That seems to suggest to me his intent was to cut through the park but he did an about face and decided to go around the perimeter of the park along 10th instead.

 

[PrairieWind]

So, I believe the murder had take place by the time the jogger went in. He was in and out in 47 seconds. That's a fair amount of time if you're jogging and this may have been he turning around point on his run. I suggest that his headlamp did not illuminate a broad area to his right or left. My guess is that the headlamp actually gave him "tunnel vision" and he was looking straight ahead on his run. He might not have seen anything. He came out of the Park at 12:46; Katie was at the Rainbow intersection at 12:09 am where she was crossing Piedmont St. from 10th on the south side to 10th on the north side. Depending on where she entered the Park, she could have been in the Park for about 20 min to half an hour. Listening to several forensic pathologists recently about Katie's autopsy, they surmised that the attack took as little as 3 min. or up to 10 min. It was much faster than we all think.

That still leaves plenty of questions about where the killer entered the Park, where he was when Katie and Bowie entered the Park. Did Katie and Bowie enter from the 12th St. entrance or 10th & CA.

Most horrifying to me is that Emma was likely on her way home when the murder was taking place or had just taken place. That makes me want to throw up.

I previously went through an analysis and determined that if Katie entered the part from the corner of the park on 10th st, she would have arrived at the CA gate area around 12:26 or a few minutes later depending on if Bowie was stopping to sniff and do dog things. There would be no reason for them to remain there, so i assume the attack began then. If she took a different route, that time changes of course. I estimated about 5 minutes for the attack injuries and the attacker could have intended more but was interrupted.
We have seen only a few photos released by APD from the two gates and the crosswalk. Obviously lots more photos/video exist. Is the killer caught on camera. I would be willing to bet so, but maybe well before the killing.

The park entrance at CA is fairly well lit. So the jogger would have clearly seen something ( a dog) laying in the road. Is the delay him stopping to see what it is, then taking a second to figure out what to do, or seeing/hearing something else, and then deciding to leave? I do think that there is a 90% chance that the attack had already occurred by then, so Bowie should have been right there to see.

 

[RetLawyer]

I previously went through an analysis and determined that if Katie entered the part from the corner of the park on 10th st, she would have arrived at the CA gate area around 12:26 or a few minutes later depending on if Bowie was stopping to sniff and do dog things. There would be no reason for them to remain there, so i assume the attack began then. If she took a different route, that time changes of course. I estimated about 5 minutes for the attack injuries and the attacker could have intended more but was interrupted.
We have seen only a few photos released by APD from the two gates and the crosswalk. Obviously lots more photos/video exist. Is the killer caught on camera. I would be willing to bet so, but maybe well before the killing.

The park entrance at CA is fairly well lit. So the jogger would have clearly seen something ( a dog) laying in the road. Is the delay him stopping to see what it is, then taking a second to figure out what to do, or seeing/hearing something else, and then deciding to leave? I do think that there is a 90% chance that the attack had already occurred by then, so Bowie should have been right there to see.

So, does it take 15 min to walk to CA gate from the Rainbow Crosswalk? Why would the jogger not contact APD immediately if he saw something? Why would he wait until the video showing him was released? And, why would APD not release additional video showing others coming in and out of the Park entrances if they are possibly relevant to the investigation? Finally, I’m not at all sure the killer entered or left the Park through either the 12th St gate or the CA gate. In fact, he may have been following Kate by walking along the path just inside the Park along 10th St. I think that is how he was able to attack Bowie and Katie at the point he did. Still, I can’t make sense of why Kate would go into the Park at the CA gate when she could have turned right at CA and continued home?

 

[hexicon]

I do think it is very strange that the police had to track the jogger down.

I still believe that the jogger did not understand at the time what he was seeing. Maybe he saw Bowie on the path and thought he was clothes or a homeless person's kit. Even if he recognized the sight as a deceased dog, he may have thought Bowie was killed by another dog, which would be an excellent reason to make a rapid exit. And even if he saw two people interacting, he might have thought it was a sexual encounter or drunks having a fist fight, and as noted above, he might have tried not to look too closely. If I were in the jogger's shoes I'm not sure that I would report any of these things to the police upon leaving the park that night.

What seems odd to me is that the jogger would not contact the police after the murder hit the news. Clearly the jogger saw something that spooked him and made him leave the park. Once news broke of the murder, it seems like he would realize this was relevant and he would come forward. Seems like the main possibilities are that he does not watch or read the news, that he doesn't speak English, or that he has reason to be uncomfortable with the police (immigration status, warrants, etc.).

Has anyone heard anything about whether any of the other potential witnesses were located?

 

[Nancy19XX]

Anyone see this? 5 miles from Piedmont Park... could this be a similar scenario? Same group or people from this group? Is stealing people's dogs like that a common thing? MOO

Family devastated after shooter kills Atlanta man walking his dog, then steals the dog

"The two were out walking Monday night on Mitchell Street in southwest Atlanta when cops said a group ran up on them and killed JR and then stole Tequilla."

 

[Quell]

Anyone see this? 5 miles from Piedmont Park... could this be a similar scenario? Same group or people from this group? Is stealing people's dogs like that a common thing? MOO

Family devastated after shooter kills Atlanta man walking his dog, then steals the dog

"The two were out walking Monday night on Mitchell Street in southwest Atlanta when cops said a group ran up on them and killed JR and then stole Tequilla."

Unfortunately, stealing dogs is a common thing in ATL. French Bulldogs and Pit Bulls are hot commodities but other breeds are stolen as well.

 

[Countem]

Anyone see this? 5 miles from Piedmont Park... could this be a similar scenario? Same group or people from this group? Is stealing people's dogs like that a common thing? MOO

Family devastated after shooter kills Atlanta man walking his dog, then steals the dog

"The two were out walking Monday night on Mitchell Street in southwest Atlanta when cops said a group ran up on them and killed JR and then stole Tequilla."

Wow, this certainly is a possible theory. The biggest hitch for me is the apparent carving of “FAT” on the victim’s body in the Janness case. Maybe the fact that the dog was killed in the fray upset the dog thief enough for them to desecrate the body out of anger towards Janness for messing up the plan?

All MOO.

 

[Nancy19XX]

The reason that recent incident really struck me was she would surely not give her dog up easy and Bowie would defend her and wouldn't just get taken. It might not have been an easy snatch and grab. Maybe the carving was in anger because they lost the money they might have earned selling the dog? People do strange things and when they are in a group - things can escalate quickly. They could be egging each other on, etc. I've always thought it was too brutal and that this was extremely personal or there were more than 1 person involved. I guess we will see. I think about her often. All MOO.

 

[RetLawyer]

Anyone see this? 5 miles from Piedmont Park... could this be a similar scenario? Same group or people from this group? Is stealing people's dogs like that a common thing? MOO

Family devastated after shooter kills Atlanta man walking his dog, then steals the dog

"The two were out walking Monday night on Mitchell Street in southwest Atlanta when cops said a group ran up on them and killed JR and then stole Tequilla."

This is really sad. We have many French bull dogs stolen in San Francisco but no one killed. I don’t think this is related to Katie’s murder. This victim was shot and more than one perp. They were able to keep a little distance and then when the owner was down, they were able to steal the dog.

A shooting and using a sharp bladed instrument are two very different MOs. IMO Katie’s killer was not interested in Bowie and it was not a spur of the moment in the heat of anger type killing. MOO

 

[Nancy19XX]

Agree they are different MOs, but I was wondering if it could be something like this. Not this group specifically, but someone or a group targeting dogs. Knives would make more sense so as to not draw attention in a park. I was just thinking about it as a possibility, as I didn't realize how prevalent stealing dogs happens.

 

[Quell]

Curious why a national franchise like
@Dateline or @48Hours etc.hasn’t done a show on what they know so far re: this case.
It’s so hideous. So scary. So extraordinarily awful.

Do news outlets/media productions companies get advisories against doing stories on specific crimes from LE based on protecting the integrity of the case etc. or is this case just woefully under-coveraged? Does anyone have knowledge of how that usually goes?

 

[dotr]

Curious why a national franchise like
@Dateline or @48Hours etc.hasn’t done a show on what they know so far re: this case.
It’s so hideous. So scary. So extraordinarily awful.

Do news outlets/media productions companies get advisories against doing stories on specific crimes from LE based on protecting the integrity of the case etc. or is this case just woefully under-coveraged? Does anyone have knowledge of how that usually goes?

Guessing that they like it when there is an answer or arrest at the end, or at least several suspects & or theories to drive the story and maybe provide the basis for a part 2. speculation, imo.

 

[RetLawyer]

Curious why a national franchise like
@Dateline or @48Hours etc.hasn’t done a show on what they know so far re: this case.
It’s so hideous. So scary. So extraordinarily awful.

Do news outlets/media productions companies get advisories against doing stories on specific crimes from LE based on protecting the integrity of the case etc. or is this case just woefully under-coveraged? Does anyone have knowledge of how that usually goes?

There are not enough of the case details released by APD for a 48 hrs, etc to do a show. They won’t agree to an interview. That leaves much of the show to pure speculation. APD needs to release more information. The case would be solved much faster. They need to release the FBI BAU criminal profile and the victimology report. Then you’d see a national show pick it up.

 

[Silver_produce0]

I’m disappointed that we don’t have much information and it’s not clear how much the case has progressed. This case scares me.

I live in a city and dog theft is frequent but it’s usually Frenchies or small dogs that are taken to be sold or unaltered pitties taken for breeding or fighting.

 

[PrairieWind]

It is interesting that APD really hasn't released anything since the days after the attack. We know they called in the FBI for assistance almost immediately, but then.... nothing. But the autopsy report was released. It does seem odd that there isn't more being released. Why?

 

[ivyvanmad]

It is interesting that APD really hasn't released anything since the days after the attack. We know they called in the FBI for assistance almost immediately, but then.... nothing. But the autopsy report was released. It does seem odd that there isn't more being released. Why?

Extremely odd!

 

[PrairieWind]

<modsnip: quoted post was removed>

Autopsy reports are often public to some degree depending on states. But usually can be kept sealed while a criminal investigation is ongoing. Which obviously would have applied here. (I don't make any opinion on Georgia law since I don't know it in this regard, but am just speaking generally). I would think there would have been a lot of details in that autopsy report that law enforcement would have rather been kept confidential, ie the specific injuries, carving etc, because those would be things only the killer would know and they could use that in the future. So I do think that there was disconnect, not a coordination among the government agencies when that got released.