GA - Katherine Janness, 40, fatally stabbed and dog killed, Piedmont Park, Atlanta, 28 Jul 2021 #3

[foragerhan]

Do we know what time Katie left Henry's? Are we assuming she hung out at Henry's for about a a half hour? (While the bar/restaurant staff was trying to close up which seems like a weird time to hang around? Or did she just stop in to say hi and then was walking around for a half hour before heading toward the park?)

It's very normal for off duty restaurant employees or friends of employees to hang around with closing is happening. I have done it many times and have had friends waiting around for me to finish

 

[foragerhan]

Sorry for the above post.. I cant figure this site out, haha.

 

[Rush4087]

I can't remember exactly, but I recall the police saying something about Bowie had apparently tried to defend Katie or something to that effect. That could mean just about anything.
But I would think that anyone wanting to attack Katie almost certainly would have had to dispose (sorry for the language) of Bowie first. Any dog would try to defend its owner when attacked. And even a well trained and even mannered Pit is capable of a vicious defense. So I think that whatever happened, it started with the attack on Bowie. But given the situation and weapon, that could have been all over in a second or two.

Bowie was Emma’s dog, not Katie’s

 

[Doriansay]

I hear you. I just don't understand how a person suffering the type of breakdown that would result in this type of unhinged crime could successfully pull this off and keep it hidden. It just seems like that part would require them to be somewhat lucid. Like for example, some of these mentally ill/unhinged/psychotic attackers in NYC who pushed their victims in front of subway trains. In all instances that I know of, they all stuck around, either ranting or spitting and swearing, or just not coherent, and were caught quickly after the crime. They were sick mother f'ers who sadistically murdered an innocent person, or mentally ill/deranged/off their meds, but also didn't have it mentally together enough to get a good escape plan going and slip away unseen. So that's my only issue with believing a person suffering this level of a mental health breakdown could pull off the aftermath. How did they get away, after killing a human and dog, covered in blood, unseen, and to have that type of mental health breakdown to lose control and violently kill, how are they even able to function in their day to day life where this hasn't caught anyone's attention yet?

I understand what you’re saying but I think luck plays a huge role. You don’t have to be lucid to be lucky. Someone earlier shared a clip from the very same park where Katie was killed that showed two women being threatened by a man wielding a sharp object (I don’t think it’s related to this case for the record). One of the women attacked mentioned that no one really intervened at first, and this was at 5 pm when the park was open and busy! Katie was at the park when it was technically closed, pitch black, and when far less people were there.

And I’m further convinced this person got lucky because they didn’t take the effort to conceal the body. And by the DA’s own admission, there is evidence that the person lingered and didn’t seem to care about getting caught. So yes, I totally see what you mean because it is peculiar that someone suffering a breakdown could have the frame of mind to evade capture. But that’s precisely it—there’s not a whole lot of evidence to suggest that they took great care to avoid getting caught in the first place.

The person only needed to escape the scene. I don’t think someone so ill is returning to a 9 to 5 with a family and kids, and hence, would be so far off the radar so as to not raise suspicion. The assailant would just move onto the next neighborhood and hang out, not necessarily killing again.

 

[MadisonS]

Forgive me if this has already been covered, but do we know which entrance Katie used to enter the park? I assumed it was the Charles Allen gate because she was found within 100 yards of it, but no video or photos were released of her walking Bowie through that gate. If we knew where and when she entered, it would be easier to pinpoint the time of the attack.

 

[Doriansay]

Do we know what time Katie left Henry's? Are we assuming she hung out at Henry's for about a a half hour? (While the bar/restaurant staff was trying to close up which seems like a weird time to hang around? Or did she just stop in to say hi and then was walking around for a half hour before heading toward the park?)

Was Katie wearing any type of Apple Watch/fitness tracking gps device? Did she have any location apps turned on her phone that would have captured her route? Like Facebook or google maps? (For example, my google apparently was tracking me the whole day every day for a while and every location I stopped, and I had no idea how or when that was even turned on. But it's all in my location history.)

Part of me thinks this was a targeted hit for unknown reasons. I don't think the person who did it was known to her. I was talking about the case with my police friend who does homicide investigations for a living. (In another city and completely unrelated with NO knowledge of this case - she had not even heard of it. She immediately said it sounded like a hired hit. But again, she had zero facts or knowledge of this case. Just a total off the cuff response. And just conversing with me as a friend, not like giving her professional opinion. But that was her immediate instinct. And who knows, it could have just been the way I described it, even though I was just giving the known facts of the case.) I have no idea. I still have a hard time believing this was just entirely random, just because of how extreme it was and that there was no robbery etc. But - if you told me tomorrow that the case was solved and it was a random violent perpetrator, I could believe that too.

The contract killing theory is definitely interesting and I can see how your friend could think that given how random it all seems. But why would the hit person be so careless and take the time to carve letters into her body and otherwise mutilate her? And then just leave DNA everywhere? And then linger on the scene according to comments from authorities? I have read that it’s not unusual for victims of contract killings to be ambushed in public places late at night. What would be unusual however is the overkill and mutilation. I’m not convinced someone would go that far as a decoy to make the murder look random given the risks involved. Usually contract killings involve firearms, and I think with the exception of hits related to drug cartels, rarely involve mutilation.

 

[Deleted member 298047]

I hear you. I just don't understand how a person suffering the type of breakdown that would result in this type of unhinged crime could successfully pull this off and keep it hidden. It just seems like that part would require them to be somewhat lucid. Like for example, some of these mentally ill/unhinged/psychotic attackers in NYC who pushed their victims in front of subway trains. In all instances that I know of, they all stuck around, either ranting or spitting and swearing, or just not coherent, and were caught quickly after the crime. They were sick mother f'ers who sadistically murdered an innocent person, or mentally ill/deranged/off their meds, but also didn't have it mentally together enough to get a good escape plan going and slip away unseen. So that's my only issue with believing a person suffering this level of a mental health breakdown could pull off the aftermath. How did they get away, after killing a human and dog, covered in blood, unseen, and to have that type of mental health breakdown to lose control and violently kill, how are they even able to function in their day to day life where this hasn't caught anyone's attention yet?

It was mentioned to me upon discussion that the bodies were pulled into sight and found per se to keep them from being left out overnight. Which lends to someone close to the victim and also the possibility the killer wanting to see reaction of diacovery. Both are plausible IMO

 

[scdiv]

The contract killing theory is definitely interesting and I can see how your friend could think that given how random it all seems. But why would the hit person be so careless and take the time to carve letters into her body and otherwise mutilate her? And then just leave DNA everywhere? And then linger on the scene according to comments from authorities? I have read that it’s not unusual for victims of contract killings to be ambushed in public places late at night. What would be unusual however is the overkill and mutilation. I’m not convinced someone would go that far as a decoy to make the murder look random given the risks involved. Usually contract killings involve firearms, and I think with the exception of hits related to drug cartels, rarely involve mutilation.

I know. I also don't think a contract type killing would take the time to carve letters and stick around.

 

[Deleted member 298047]

THIS bothers me like no other fact in the case. What was she doing? Waiting for partner? Thats one heck of a dog walk imo. The time doesnt add up. The locations are strange.

 

[TL4S]

I haven't said this ever on any cases I've followed here on WS, but in this particular case, I do think a true psychopath, by definition, is involved. The killer might have seen KJ before in passing, but I don't think the killer was known to her. Maybe she was targeted at random or chosen specifically in the moment, for some reason only known to the killer. But that's a lot more uncomfortable to accept than a targeted attack by someone she knew, or a hired hit, because it means she did absolutely nothing but go about life the way we do, day to day. We can't fully protect ourselves from a killer like that, and that is scary as h*ll. Even a pitbull is no deterrence for somebody who isn't afraid. Nothing is. And that's scary as h*ll, too.

While we've spent a lot of time talking about the rage and hatred involved with this murder, there is also the chance that there was no rage or hatred felt or displayed at all. Just an ingrained pleasure and sickness that I can't even begin to understand.

 

[ArmchairDefective]

THIS bothers me like no other fact in the case. What was she doing? Waiting for partner? Thats one heck of a dog walk imo. The time doesnt add up. The locations are strange.

There's just so much about this case that I wish we had answers for! Another thing I keep thinking of is the jogger with the headlamp who entered the park around 12:45 and exited again within about 30 seconds. What did he see? We know from those camera stills that the cameras at that entrance were working, so LE must be aware of what time Katie entered the park if she used that entrance (though perhaps she didn't). That would obviously help narrow down the timeline tremendously; as far as I know based on publicly available information the window is between 12:09 (rainbow crosswalk picture, if we assume the timestamp was accurate) and 1:10ish when the 911 call was made.

 

[scdiv]

I'm just thinking if the attacker started killing the dog first, Katie probably started screaming. How could no one hear that? She was just inside the park entrance. I'm guessing she was probably screaming around and stuck around trying to protect/save her dog, too stunned or not anticipating the attacker would turn on her next. I wish we had a sense of how long the FBI thinks both killings took.

 

[DobbyRN]

Thank you for this post. This certainly makes a strong case for the possibility of an attack by a stranger.

Edited to add: I still believe that if LE has any suspicion that this was an attack by a stranger, they need to issue a much stronger warning to the public to be on the alert. If there is strong reason to believe that there is someone roaming free who might do this again, then that needs to be, like, shouted from bullhorns and put on billboards so that no one else has to meet this same horrible fate.

I feel like LE doesn't want to incite public panic.

 

[girlhasnoname]

I'm just thinking if the attacker started killing the dog first, Katie probably started screaming. How could no one hear that? She was just inside the park entrance. I'm guessing she was probably screaming around and stuck around trying to protect/save her dog, too stunned or not anticipating the attacker would turn on her next. I wish we had a sense of how long the FBI thinks both killings took.

I agree the killer disabled Bowie first, either by a blitz attack stab wound to neck or perhaps even use of a taser and then knifed. I think Katie tried to run off and was quickly overcome and incapacitated, again by a taser or mortal stab wound(s).

I think it's very likely to have happened within a 15-30 minute timeframe. She was found off the main path and propped/lying under a tree IIRC. If she wasn't verbal, by whatever means, I think it was possible for the killer not to draw a lot of attention at that late hour of night. He obviously felt comfortable enough to spend the time to mutilate her body.

He could have exited from many spots within the park. In dark clothing, and with a Covid mask in place, he'd be just another guy leaving the park.

 

[CLGM]

I agree the killer disabled Bowie first, either by a blitz attack stab wound to neck or perhaps even use of a taser and then knifed. I think Katie tried to run off and was quickly overcome and incapacitated, again by a taser or mortal stab wound(s).

I think it's very likely to have happened within a 15-30 minute timeframe. She was found off the main path and propped/lying under a tree IIRC. If she wasn't verbal, by whatever means, I think it was possible for the killer not to draw a lot of attention at that late hour of night. He obviously felt comfortable enough to spend the time to mutilate her body.

...

I didn't know about that. Is there a link where this is discussed?

 

[Swamp Fox Trot]

Maybe the guy with the cane was looking down at his phone because he wasn't from the area and was following a map. I.e., maybe he was the Little Rock slasher.

 

[Swamp Fox Trot]

Also, he's just wearing an undershirt. Maybe he had on another shirt that got soaked with blood. If he rolled it up and held it under his arm it would leave a red stain like you see there.

 

[girlhasnoname]

I didn't know about that. Is there a link where this is discussed?

It was early on in the threads, I'll try and locate it. I believe LE also removed a branch or limb as evidence as well.

 

[DobbyRN]

I desperately hope this crime gets solved!

 

[Deleted member 298047]

We dont know anything for sure other than the 12:09am time stamp on the rainbow crosswalk