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

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Razz said:
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).
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It’s a robot bathroom.
 
Not that it probably matters much, but I believe the restroom is an Exeloo Titan. I was not familiar with them, either.

Homeless Community Response | Exeloo Public Toilets

woodruff-park-titan-2.jpg.1200x800_q90_crop-smart_upscale.jpg
 
This is the first suggestion that makes any sense to me as to the runner. If he went in the park and back out 41 secs later, that would seem to be a logical time frame to run into restroom, quickly use it and run back out to continue on his way along 10th. The other couple theories would seem a long time if dog located 50 ft from gate. Say he ran in, saw dog, ran immediately back out… seems like that would have taken less than 10 secs. And further might explain why he really didn’t have opportunity to see much since it’s likely he wouldn’t hear much inside the bathroom.

Also, Katie’s wife stated it was likely that Katie came into the park they 12th st entrance headed toward 10th st entrance to loop back home. So, she leaves Henry’s, walks across crosswalk at 12:09, takes left on piedmont, arrives at 12th street entrance, and walks through park to Charles Allen gate (which would total about 0.6 miles starting from 10 st. crosswalk at 12:09). There are a couple routes she could have taken once in park but this is most direct route to Charles Allen going main path loop. Assuming an average 15-20 minute mile, that would have taken her somewhere in the range of 9-12 minutes from crosswalk to the area her body was found around 12:18-12:21.

This path actually makes things more confusing in a sense because why was dog found 100 ft further than her towards the Charles Allen gate? Could the killer have been hiding in restroom, coming out and surprising both she and dog and dog immediately attacks, she begins running possibly towards park tavern (located at 10th and Monroe) thinking there’s guaranteed to be other people/ help in the bar/restaurant and open field /walkway would be most visible if others were around to help or see her? And perhaps he finished attacking dog, chased and caught up with her at that point?

obviously, this is all speculative but have lived by and frequented this park for 17 years and the more I’ve thought about it, the more it makes sense she went the loop of 12th to end at 10th/Charles Allen rather than going into and out of the same charles Allen gate.
 
Side notes regarding Emma’s 911 call from several sources:

“Clark is audibly shaken as she realizes what has happened to Janness during the call. You can also hear another person in the background who came to the scene of where the murder took place. Atlanta Police say that person stayed on scene and spoke with authorities”.

“Clark can also be heard talking to another pedestrian in the park who is heard screaming in the background after also finding the bodies.”


“Emma Clark says she found her life-partner, Katie, stabbed to death that night. She went looking, pinging Katie's phone after she didn't respond to calls or texts. Emma says she saw others in the park when she made the gruesome discovery. “I know somebody walked up on it right after I did,” Clark said. “I guess, because he came running out too. If anybody else saw something before I did. Because there are photos of people 20 minutes before I got here and there’s people walking right past the entrance.”

IMO, LE likely has obtained some useful information from others who were in the park last Tuesday night, who, in hindsight, may have seen or heard something that seemed pertinent. Even if only to say…. “look, I was there at such and such a time and there was nothing out of the ordinary then.” Hopefully, tips have been useful in establishing a timeline. I hope “the runner” who entered the park and then exited a short time later has already spoken to LE; whether he saw Bowie or not would be so crucial to the timeline.

I see a lot of speculation on how long it would take Katie & Bowie to get from the Piedmont Ave rainbow intersection to the main 10th street park entrance. But, we don’t know what their exact walking route was… there is no evidence yet stating they went directly from the rainbow intersection to the park entrance on 10th St. They could have walked around some of the side streets off 10th street and then looped back around to the park in any number of ways. APD officers canvased the immediate neighborhood around the park questioning residents and asking them to review home security films to help establish the walking route. And Emma also said there were different routes they would take on their walks.

Nevertheless, LE is working 24/7
and building their case. I’m sure they’ve obtained some very helpful information from the public; more than we’ll ever know. We are anxious and on high alert here in Atlanta. Watching & waiting for something every day….hopefully an arrest.
 
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tara83 said:
To me the mutilation doesn't fit this.I just don't see some random homeless guy carving someone up like this over a dog bite.I don't know if she was the target but I think this guy was planning to murder someone that night.I do think he wanted to kill a woman and he seemed to be in a right mind enough to clean himself and get away fast.
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A lot of random homeless people are homeless because they suffer from a variety of undiagnosed or non-treated psychiatric issues like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other psychoses. I haven't counted that out as a viable possibility but I'm more inclined to think it was a targeted attack. Not so much toward Katie per se, but to an individual representative of the gay community. I also wonder if Katie surprised or got into a heated exchange with someone involved in some form of blatant behavior.
 
Atlmom said:
I see a lot of speculation on how long it would take Katie & Bowie to get from the Piedmont Ave rainbow intersection to the main 10th street park entrance. But, we don’t know what their exact walking route was… there is no evidence yet stating they went directly from the rainbow intersection to the park entrance on 10th St. They could have walked around some of the side streets off 10th street and then looped back around to the park in any number of ways. APD officers canvased the immediate neighborhood around the park questioning residents and asking them to review home security films to help establish the walking route. And Emma also said there were different routes they would take on their walks.
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Another interesting thing to add to her walking route: The picture of her crossing the rainbow crosswalk, it looks like she is on the corner where the Zocalos Mexican restaurant is located (there was a bar there too, but I think it's gone and cant remember the name). You can tell from the white pole in the picture. This would be on the opposite side of 10th St. from Henry's where she was apparently coming from seeing Emma. In the picture she is crossing over 10th towards the Caribou Coffee. Not sure why she crossed 10th street from Henrys in that one/two-ish block(s), but might have been due to her dog and other people around. I've had to change my route many times to keep my dogs away from other dogs. Find it interesting though that she crossed at some point in the opposite direction before getting to Piedmont Ave. because the other side of the street is on the park.
 
Shannon0521 said:
Does anyone else think it’s crazy how little time passed between Katie being at the crosswalk and then found already gone? That’s maybe a ten-minute walk, fifteen if you’re really taking your time. So between 12:25 and 1:00 she was killed and the killer gone?
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Yes, it is a short timeline…for certain, less than an hour and probably less than 45 minutes. APD clipped those short videos for the public to view to help identify the people in the videos that are considered potential witnesses. IDK, does this generally happen or does this seem like a desperate plea by APD to speak to these potential witnesses? IMO, there was something else on that video (or another one from inside the park) that raised LE suspicion, possibly a person of interest, and LE would like to question these witnesses to see if they recall seeing a particular person or thing in or around the park.
 
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CLWP8 said:
Another interesting thing to add to her walking route: The picture of her crossing the rainbow crosswalk, it looks like she is on the corner where the Zocalos Mexican restaurant is located (there was a bar there too, but I think it's gone and cant remember the name). You can tell from the white pole in the picture. This would be on the opposite side of 10th St. from Henry's where she was apparently coming from seeing Emma. In the picture she is crossing over 10th towards the Caribou Coffee. Not sure why she crossed 10th street from Henrys in that one/two-ish block(s), but might have been due to her dog and other people around. I've had to change my route many times to keep my dogs away from other dogs. Find it interesting though that she crossed at some point in the opposite direction before getting to Piedmont Ave. because the other side of the street is on the park.
Click to expand...
The route on the same side of street I believe goes by a high rise public housing bldg if I recall correctly, often with people sitting/ standing outside so wonder if she just crossed to avoid any issues w/ people and dog thinking she could just cross back when she got to piedmont intersection.
 
AtlRN said:
The route on the same side of street I believe goes by a high rise public housing bldg if I recall correctly, often with people sitting/ standing outside so wonder if she just crossed to avoid any issues w/ people and dog thinking she could just cross back when she got to piedmont intersection.
Click to expand...

Yes, you're correct. I lived on Juniper 10 years ago and that building usually has people sitting on the patio outside the public housing all night. It's very possible she crossed to avoid people.
 
CLWP8 said:
Another interesting thing to add to her walking route: The picture of her crossing the rainbow crosswalk, it looks like she is on the corner where the Zocalos Mexican restaurant is located (there was a bar there too, but I think it's gone and cant remember the name). You can tell from the white pole in the picture. This would be on the opposite side of 10th St. from Henry's where she was apparently coming from seeing Emma. In the picture she is crossing over 10th towards the Caribou Coffee. Not sure why she crossed 10th street from Henrys in that one/two-ish block(s), but might have been due to her dog and other people around. I've had to change my route many times to keep my dogs away from other dogs. Find it interesting though that she crossed at some point in the opposite direction before getting to Piedmont Ave. because the other side of the street is on the park.
Click to expand...
That's interesting. I do have to wonder if her walking route was longer than is being assumed and the murder actually happened AFTER the runner came in and out of the park, so in the space of 12:46-1ish am. 15-20 minutes seems like more than enough time for it to happen, imo. Honestly, the less time they were there, the less likely anyone else saw anything. I wish we knew what time exactly her gf was trying to contact her.
 
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branmuffin said:
A lot of random homeless people are homeless because they suffer from a variety of undiagnosed or non-treated psychiatric issues like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other psychoses. I haven't counted that out as a viable possibility but I'm more inclined to think it was a targeted attack. Not so much toward Katie per se, but to an individual representative of the gay community. I also wonder if Katie surprised or got into a heated exchange with someone involved in some form of blatant behavior.
Click to expand...

If it was a severely mentally ill homeless person I think they would have found them by now. I don’t think that person would be able to disappear very easily. Their clothes would be blood soaked with nowhere really to change or wash up.
I’m not sold on a targeted gay hate crime or targeted toward her specifically. It just seems too gruesome, overkill.
The thing that keeps popping into my mind is Jack the Ripper like crime.
 
CLWP8 said:
Yes, you're correct. I lived on Juniper 10 years ago and that building usually has people sitting on the patio outside the public housing all night. It's very possible she crossed to avoid people.
Click to expand...

At the same time, she went into the park when it was dark which I wouldn't have done alone. I know many people do and I'm not judging her for entering the park at night, but seems like entering the park is more of a risk than walking by people on the corner.
 
StarryStarryNight said:
If it was a severely mentally ill homeless person I think they would have found them by now. I don’t think that person would be able to disappear very easily. Their clothes would be blood soaked with nowhere really to change or wash up.
I’m not sold on a targeted gay hate crime or targeted toward her specifically. It just seems too gruesome, overkill.
The thing that keeps popping into my mind is Jack the Ripper like crime.
Click to expand...

Jack the Ripper murdered his victims slashing their throats and mutilating their bodies. He did all that usually on the street. The murders were gruesome and overkill. Only one of his victims was murdered inside. Since he was never caught we don't know whether he killed prostitutes because he hated prostitutes or because they were an easy target.

It's so difficult to know why the killer mutilated Katie and killed the dog. So many variables. I did post this study earlier but will post again. It is the study of patterns of injuries in homicides. On pages 105 and 106 there are some interesting findings regarding facial injuries or mutilations and that they can represent both an intimate relationship between victim and perpetrator but also the depersonalization of the victim by a nameless predator.

https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3090&context=gc_etds
 
CLWP8 said:
At the same time, she went into the park when it was dark which I wouldn't have done alone. I know many people do and I'm not judging her for entering the park at night, but seems like entering the park is more of a risk than walking by people on the corner.
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Is it possible that she did not walk through the park but down 10th St. and was somehow lured or chased into the park?
 
Do we know which side of the of the path their bodies were found on? If Headlamp Runner was stopping by the restroom on the right side and their bodies were on the left, it’s entirely possible he didn’t notice either of them in the dark.
 
K.jill said:
Is it possible that she did not walk through the park but down 10th St. and was somehow lured or chased into the park?
Click to expand...

There are so many paths, it's hard to know until they release exactly where she walked. There is also an entrance to the park behind apartments on 11th and has a path that goes along 10th street to the Charles Allen entrance or if you go a different direction it leads you deeper into the park but can loop back towards the Charles Allen entrance.

Also, from CBS46 it says the 911 call was at 1:11am which helps with the timeline. 911 call and new video in Piedmont Park murder shed light on a timeline
 
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