Atlanta officer accused of killing girlfriend after Christmas party
On Christmas Day, Atlanta police officer Kevin Stroner and his girlfriend, Moriah Cardona, ventured to an afternoon holiday party, where he played in a band.
But after meeting some friends at a local bar that evening, police said no one heard from the couple for two days.
On Saturday, concerned friends went to Stroner’s home near Piedmont Park to check on them.
There, Stroner and Cardona were found dead in a back bedroom, each with gunshot wounds to their head, according to a police incident report and a 911 call obtained Tuesday by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. They were wearing the same clothes from that Christmas night, the report stated.
Stroner, 56, who died from suicide, was identified as the suspect by police, while Cardona, 44, was listed as a homicide victim by the medical examiner’s office. Stroner’s APD-issued Glock 9mm firearm was found nearby and was seized as evidence by responding officers, the report stated. He was also suspected of using alcohol, police said.
Cardona was full of energy and could always be found with a smile on her face, according to her family, who reside in Atlanta, Texas and Kansas. She was a hard worker and made it a point to welcome others with open arms, they said.
“She leaves behind parents that loved her and her little buddy Samson, our dog that loved her so much, couldn’t get enough of her when she visited us,” her father, Robert, and stepmother, Dawn, told the AJC in a joint statement. “We are praying for Kevin’s family, colleagues. Their hearts are as broken as ours.”
Nearly 48 hours after the couple had last been seen, two friends went to Stroner’s residence in the 600 block of Cooledge Avenue, near the southeast corner of the park and the Atlanta Beltline’s Eastside trail. Shortly after arriving, the man looked inside the home and told his wife to quickly call police, according to the 911 call.
“We can’t get into the house, but he’s obviously seeing something that he won’t tell me about, and he said to call 911 immediately,” the wife said.
The husband then got on the phone and told the dispatcher he had peeked through the window and saw two dead bodies in the back bedroom. At first, he assumed their deaths were related to carbon monoxide, but there was “blood everywhere,” according to the 911 call.
“There’s one gun between the two of them. One’s a police officer. He lives here and is a friend of ours, and his girlfriend,” the man stated in the call. “We’ve been looking for them for days, since Christmas.”
Officers were asked to conduct a wellness check and found the couple dead inside the residence, which was owned by Stroner. He was promoted to investigator in 2017, about six years after he joined APD, according to Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council records.
Police said the incident was isolated and that the couple were the only people home at the time. A motive is unclear, and officials have not provided any other details about the shooting.
Dawn said her family was in the process of making funeral arrangements for Moriah and would be traveling to Atlanta.
“Our hearts break for all those that knew this couple,” according to the Cardona family’s statement. “It’s a tragedy with no real answers, so we turn to GOD.”
