Calls come in after ‘America’s Most Wanted’ features 2 Georgia cases

By Alexis Stevens

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A day after airing two high-profile Atlanta murders on television's "America’s Most Wanted" show, one producer of the Fox Network show said they both have a higher potential for solving.

The case of prostitute Kisha Rutledge, who is accused of killing one of her clients in Milton, received many tips from throughout the Southeast, producer Angeline Hartmann said Sunday evening.

The case of the robbery-turned-murder of Atlanta boxing champ Vernon Forrest has also received exceptional responses, Hartmann said.

“What we like about both cases is both have very strong clues,” she said.

She pointed to surveillance footage released of one of the suspects in Forrest’s death. With the Rutlege case, Hartmann said, “she has very recognizable tattoos.”

Calls and e-mails continued to flood into the popular television show Sunday evening from tipsters throughout the Southeast.

“The Kisha Rutledge story is getting a big, big response,” she said. “We’re definitely getting calls on the Vernon Forrest case, too.”

Hartmann declined to specify the numbers of calls but said “investigators believe the leads are promising.”

Atlanta police detective Lt. Keith Meadows, who is investigating the Forrest case, did not attribute any sources Sunday but said investigators were following “a couple of good leads.”

Hartmann said the two cases, featured Saturday night, offer promising results.

“The solveability factor is higher for both cases because of the clues and because of the timing of them both,” she said.

Although “bad girls” was the theme of Saturday’s show, Hartmann said producers wanted to include a segment on Forrest, killed just a week ago near Turner Field.

Forrest, 38, died July 25 after being shot multiple times following a robbery in southwest Atlanta, police said. Atlanta police have interviewed several witnesses but so far have iidentified no suspects and made no arrests.

Surveillance camera footage, which aired on “America's Most Wanted” along with a re-enactment, shows the face of one suspect. Atlanta police have said has many as four suspects may have been involved in the robbery and shooting of the boxer.

Police are also looking for the car the suspects were in, believed to be a red Grand Am or Grand Prix.

In the other case with Georgia ties, a woman is wanted for her role in a murder more than two years ago, on June 12, 2007. In that case, Rutledge is accused of arranging for Keith Brown to be killed. Three others have been caught, but Rutledge is still on the loose.

Her case first aired on the show in March, and she has been spotted in the Southeast.

Anyone with information on the two cases should call 1-800-crime-tv or go to the show’s Web site at www.amw.com. Tips can be shared anonymously.

Hartmann said the tips will be shared with law enforcement working on the cases.

“We have a loyal fan base at "America’s Most Wanted", and we strongly believe that its just a matter of time before Kisha Rutledge and the four men involved in the robbery and murder of Vernon Forrest are all behind bars.”

-- Staff writers Marcus K. Garner and Katie Leslie contributed to this report.