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

[citizen_sleuth]

So regarding the runner and theory about him having used bathroom during those 41 secs, I looked up the bathroom hours and it seems it closes at 11pm (just like the park). So I don’t know if it actually locks down and is unusable after 11P or whether it is simply listed as closed (like the park). Anyone know?

I believe the bathroom the runner would've theoretically gone to is the one near the 10th and Charles Street, which is a robot bathroom (Exeloo) so if it is locked after closing time, it probably does so automatically.

Another interesting consideration (not necessarily with respect to the runner) is that if the bathroom was, in fact, open at that time, the killer could have gone in there to clean off. The Exeloo sprays the entire bathroom down with sanitizer every ten minutes which could've been used as a crude way for the attacker to "shower" before leaving the park.

 

[MntnHiker]

At this time of night, I’d be surprised if a man would used the bathroom anyway. I’d think that 41 seconds gives him about the right amount of time to duck just into the park and relieve himself into a hedge.

Yes, that is a good point. As someone else said who replied to me, the bathroom is about 90 feet in from the entrance. I believe the dog was said to be about 50 feet in from the entrance, so if the murder already happened, I can't imagine the jogger wouldn't have at least seen the dog if going to the bathroom. But possibly he just ducked around the corner of the entrance to go to the bathroom out in nature.

I am still not convinced the runner saw something. Now, I'm basing this off what I would do, which doesn't mean it's what he would do, but if I came across a murder scene, or even an animal that looked like it had been killed, I would probably be turning it into high gear to run as fast as I could out of that park. The video shows him still jogging as normal IMO.

I don't know. I just hope this jogger comes forward. If he's local to the area, I can't imagine he hasn't heard about this murder and seen the photos of himself on the news.

 

[dotr]

Atlanta Police release new photos of possible witness in Piedmont Park stabbing
rbbm.
''Police are asking the public to take note of the appearance and attire of this jogger. They are encouraging anyone who knows this person, or any other witnesses to contact the Atlanta Police Homicide Unit or Crime Stoppers Atlanta.

As of now, police have still not identified a lead suspect in the investigation.


Police previously released photos and video clips of other people who they say may have seen or heard something that could help the case. As police have emphasized these individuals are not suspects at this time.

Anyone with information on the identity of the suspect, in this case, should contact 911 or Crime Stoppers Atlanta at 404-577-TIPS (8477) or online at www.StopCrimeATL.com. Callers do not have to give their name or any identifying information to submit a tip or be eligible for the up to $20,000 suspect arrest and indictment reward.''

 

[Yemelyan]

If the tree branch was near the scene of the crime, it could have all sorts of valuable DNA on it.
The perp may have urinated nearby, there may be strands of hair, dog fur, blood splatter etc. entwined in the leaves.
speculation, imo.

True. We know we probably are not hearing about your run-of-the-mill perpetrator due to the news reports of disfiguration/mutilation. Since the crime scene techs had to return to the scene at a later point in time to get the branch (which is so large, it looks like a small tree in the back of their van), I'm wondering if they found bark on the victim at autopsy or in some way believe that the branch was actually used as part of the crime or post-mortem. Certainly at the initial point in time it was passed over in importance and then they made a different determination later on. Interesting to contemplate.

 

[Brooklyngirl84]

So, is this "our blue runner?" Scary if it is and he hasn't checked in with police yet. Anyone know where these pictures were taken from?!

oh wow. These photos are much more clear than the ones we saw the other day. The runner’s legs are heavily tattooed. The tats appear to be done in black ink only. I’m not seeing any work done in color. I definitely wasn’t able to make out this level of detail from the first round of photos. Someone has got to know who this is!

 

[moonriverfarm]

Is this the same runner who wore the head lamp?

 

[swedeheart]

So, is this "our blue runner?" Scary if it is and he hasn't checked in with police yet. Anyone know where these pictures were taken from?!

I'm not sure it's the same guy...looks like a different blue shirt to me. In the originally released pictures of the jogger, his shirt looks royal blue, and has some kind of insignia on the right breast. The new photo looks more turquoise blue.

Are there bicycle police officers that patrol this park?

On the other hand, 2 runners with white helmets/headlamps running through the park at this time of night seems impossible, unless there are 2 suspects, or suspect changed clothes.

It sure is fishy that he (they?) haven't come forward, and I wonder if this is actually a suspect(s).

 

[Quest701]

I followed a couple of UK threads that were also women killed in parks. One was a lady walking her dog, the dog was not killed, he was found guarding her body. The other was two sisters killed in a park after a gathering with friends. Both murderers were unknown to the victims. Both were young males. Both have some kind of mental illness. I think the suspect here will tick those same boxes. Moo

Thanks for sharing this story. Just wanted to say that IMO the restaurant *is* at fault here. Big time. They clearly know that a man is posing as their employee, is trespassing on their premises and is crazily harassing their customers. It’s their responsibility to chase that man off and keep chasing him off, calling the police if he doesn’t leave immediately. It’s just good business.

I get what you’re saying but I think they mistook him for someone else in the service industry at first stopping by to say hi (there are lots of restaurants nearby and maybe they thought my wife and I knew him?).I’m not offended they were duped—after all we were duped too. I think they eventually began to put two and two together as we were leaving, hence why we saw the guy bolt. They had essentially told him to scram according to my wife, who had talked to the waiter later while on a walk lol.

 

[Bonthetrack]

Just a thought…

what if the jogger is in fact a suspect

what if he changed inside of the park and exited on some other side and ran around to “check on the body” or see if it’s been discovered.

His clothes look the same but slightly different but maybe it’s just me!

I also live in the area and this is pretty scary!

 

[SleepyLabRat]

I can’t place the stone wall behind the jogger in these new photos. They seem to be running in the opposite direction of the first photos where the street was on their right. I thought it might be down near the Botanical Gardens but the wall there doesn’t have uniform horizontal rows. I think it probably is the same person from the first photos and that the lighting and poor quality of the images accounts for any inconsistencies in their appearance.

 

[dotr]

Pics in link can be paused.
BREAKING: Police release images of potential witness in Katherine Janness murder at Piedmont Park - Atlanta Intown

Original cctv witness potentials, pause capability included within link..
0

The Atlanta Police Department has released a series of surveillance photos of people who were in or near Piedmont Park on the night Katherine Janness and her dog Bowie were brutally stabbed to death.
Atlanta Police seek people in surveillance photos to solve 'horrific' murder in Piedmont Park - Atlanta Intown

 

[K.jill]

I know SM is generally not allowed on here but this tweet is from a local MSM reporter. Also, the person in the photos looks like they have some pretty large and distinctive tattoos on their left leg.

Joe Henke @JoeHenke, via Twitter, 9:37 AM · Aug 6, 2021
Another potential witness in the Katie Janness Piedmont Park murder case from July 28.
@Atlanta_Police detectives want to talk with this person & just released these photos.

The tattoos are distinctive.
these photos look like he is wearing a cap or bike helmet. Am i mistaken?

 

[moonriverfarm]

I don't see a head lamp on the tattooed guy, and to me his shirt is more turquoise than blue. MOO

 

[K.jill]

Pics in link can be paused.
BREAKING: Police release images of potential witness in Katherine Janness murder at Piedmont Park - Atlanta Intown

The wording in the article makes it sound like it is additional photos of the same jogger.
Atlanta Police Homicide investigators have released additional surveillance images of a jogger who might be a witness in the murder of Katherine Janness and her dog Bowie at Piedmont Park.

 

[K.jill]

FOX 5 Atlanta
They say the jogger has come forward and is talking to police.

 

[CrimeAway]

The cameras in the park are operated by the city/parks dept. Supposedly the technology for those cameras is outdated so they are not online or working. They apparently have not worked for years and any upgrades to get them online are not planned. I would seriously hope they change that.
The cameras outside the park are part of Atlanta Police Dept and are up and running.

I have read conflicting reports about whether the cameras in the park were actually working. IIRC, I read that perhaps they were working, but not hooked up to the rest of the city system, and therefore, not being monitored live?

I continue to be surprised that more local governments and businesses, do not invest in more comprehensive, and advanced CCTV technology. From following the Sarah Everard case in the UK, it is clear to me how important CCTV evidence can be. The Transport for London camera network was impressive, IMO, and camera evidence from one of their buses proved quite pivotal, IIRC.

 

[Quest701]

I'm not sure it's the same guy...looks like a different blue shirt to me. In the originally released pictures of the jogger, his shirt looks royal blue, and has some kind of insignia on the right breast. The new photo looks more turquoise blue.

Are there bicycle police officers that patrol this park?

On the other hand, 2 runners with white helmets/headlamps running through the park at this time of night seems impossible, unless there are 2 suspects, or suspect changed clothes.

It sure is fishy that he (they?) haven't come forward, and I wonder if this is actually a suspect(s).

I just can’t imagine either of these two randos casually jogging had they been involved. There’s no way. They are dressed to work out and the timing is weird. They’ve probably not come forward for a variety reasons—perhaps it’s possible they don’t follow local news and no one who would recognize them has been like “Hey! You were on the news the other night! Call the police!”. My partner heard about the attack but would have NO idea what I was talking about if I asked her about the photos because she doesn’t follow this stuff either. I get your frustration though for sure...It’s definitely odd they haven’t come forward yet. Here’s hoping.

Edit:Looks like he has come forward! Yay. Hopefully he can help.

 

[K.jill]

I did not see tattoos in the original photos that were released. Once I saw the photo this am i was surprised that they look like some I have seen on people. For some reason those stripes always catch my eye. I have seen them on more that one person and i like them but they make me think of a bar code.
Once today’s photo was released they probably got lots of calls identifying him.

 

[citizen_sleuth]

I just can’t imagine either of these two randos casually jogging had they been involved. There’s no way. They are dressed to work out and the timing is weird. They’ve probably not come forward for a variety reasons—perhaps it’s possible they don’t follow local news and no one who would recognize them has been like “Hey! You were on the news the other night! Call the police!”. My partner heard about the attack but would have NO idea what I was talking about if I asked her about the photos because she doesn’t follow this stuff either. I get your frustration though for sure...It’s definitely odd they haven’t come forward yet. Here’s hoping.

Edit:Looks like he has come forward! Yay. Hopefully he can help.

Agreed. The police have also stated they do not consider this jogger to be a suspect.

Chenue Her @ChenueHer (reporter w/ 11Alive), via Twitter, 11:40 AM · Aug 6, 2021
Atlanta police says this jogger has come forward & is cooperating with APD in their investigation into the murder of Katie Janness and her dog at Piedmont Park. Police say this jogger is a potential *witness* and *not* a suspect.

The reward to help find the killer is now $20k.

 

[tara83]

It's really sounding to me like they don't have any serious suspects at the moment.