30 years later, teenage girl found dead behind Atlanta home is identified

After 30 years, she now has a name thanks to the work of a Texas DNA lab. She was Kiyona Arnold, and she had just turned 15 years old a month before she was found dead. But investigators still have been unable to determine how Kiyona died and who left her in a makeshift grave.

“Absolutely no one should be found in a shallow grave behind some building, but it’s even more horrific when it’s a child,” said Kristen Mittelman, chief development officer at the Othram lab. “Now that investigators know her name, hopefully her investigation can move forward to determine exactly what happened to her. The family deserves answers.”

Othram is a forensic laboratory specializing in complex DNA cases and has had success with many Georgia cases. Kiyona is the 23rd person that the lab has helped identify just in this state.

Located in The Woodlands, Texas, Othram is a lab that works only with law enforcement agencies. The lab’s motto is “Forensics and justice for all.”

In 2023, Othram helped close the case of a lifeless newborn baby found in a University of Georgia dorm in 1996. During the same week, DeKalb County investigators announced that a cold case involving the remains of a woman found in 1993 had been positively identified with help from Othram.

The same lab also helped Forsyth County investigators find the mother who left “Baby India” in the woods shortly after birth, the sheriff’s office previously said. Earlier this year, Othram helped local investigators identify a man found dead in North Georgia 39 years ago as David Clary, a 29-year-old last seen alive in July 1986.

In the days after Kiyona was found dead off Atwood Street, Atlanta police asked for the public’s help in identifying her. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a short story on the case.

Credit: AJC

Credit: AJC

“She didn’t have a mark on her,” Richard Eskew, an investigator with the Fulton County medical examiner’s office, said in the report. “It appears that whoever buried her there dragged her face-up, then dug a shallow, shallow grave,” he said. “We think she was a West Ender, that she lived right there in the area.”

Investigators believe that for unknown reasons, Kiyona went by the name “Wanda” in the weeks before her death. It is suspected the teen died of an overdose. Police said the house she was discovered behind had been used for the manufacture of narcotics.

But efforts to properly identify her were not successful.

In November 2007, the case was entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System but eventually went cold. Then, in 2022, the Fulton medical examiner’s office partnered with Othram, according to the lab.

“During the course of the investigation, a woman came forward as a potential relative,” the Othram lab said.

No additional details were released about that woman. But her DNA helped investigators finally identify Kiyona.

The investigation into the teen’s death continues. Anyone with information that could help with the case is asked to contact the Fulton County Medical Examiner at 404-613-4400.