Crime & Public Safety

Metro Atlanta’s 2019 homicides that remain unsolved

Sanmarian McClain (center-left) is comforted in her grief after losing her daughter to gunfire Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019. An 18-year old woman is dead after a stray bullet flew into her southwest Atlanta home and hit her as she slept. Gunfire erupted Thursday, in the street outside the home in the 2900 block of River Ridge Drive, according to Atlanta homicide commander Lt. Andrea Webster. Officers were sent to the residence about 6 a.m. after a woman reported her daughter had been shot and killed. When officers went inside the home, they found the victim with a gunshot wound to the chest, police said. Emergency medical officials confirmed she was dead. Investigators learned there was an exchange between at least two shooters that may have lasted several minutes, Webster said. During that time, three stray bullets came into the house, one of which hit and killed the sleeping teen, she said. “We can’t think of any reason she may have been the subject or the target,” Webster said. The 18-year-old, identified by relatives as Jessica Daniels, had just graduated from South Atlanta High School in May, her mother told police.

Sanmarian McClain (center-left) is comforted in her grief after losing her daughter to gunfire Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019. An 18-year old woman is dead after a stray bullet flew into her southwest Atlanta home and hit her as she slept. Gunfire erupted Thursday, in the street outside the home in the 2900 block of River Ridge Drive, according to Atlanta homicide commander Lt. Andrea Webster. Officers were sent to the residence about 6 a.m. after a woman reported her daughter had been shot and killed. When officers went inside the home, they found the victim with a gunshot wound to the chest, police said. Emergency medical officials confirmed she was dead. Investigators learned there was an exchange between at least two shooters that may have lasted several minutes, Webster said. During that time, three stray bullets came into the house, one of which hit and killed the sleeping teen, she said. “We can’t think of any reason she may have been the subject or the target,” Webster said. The 18-year-old, identified by relatives as Jessica Daniels, had just graduated from South Atlanta High School in May, her mother told police.
By
Jan 7, 2020

Jessica Daniels was an 18-year-old who wanted to become a dermatologist. Brothers William Thurman, 17, and Billy Roy Thurman, 25, planned to pursue hip-hop music.

The three were killed in separate incidents in 2019. Despite investigators’ efforts, the deaths were among metro Atlanta’s unsolved homicides last year. As detectives continue to seek leads, families await answers.

“Her killer can be found,” Daniels’ mother told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I don’t want her to ever be forgotten.”

Here are some of the 2019 killings that police continue to investigate in 2020:

March 22: The Thurman brothers had only lived in Gwinnett County a few weeks, according to family members. They were visiting relatives in a Peachtree Corners apartment complex when they were shot to death in the laundry room, police said. A cousin was also wounded. "They didn't just kill my brothers," a sister, Lisa Thurman, said after the shootings. "They are killing my family." The brothers' deaths are among the seven 2019 cases still under investigation by Gwinnett police, the agency said  Monday.

>> MORE: Brothers killed in laundry room mourned

Billy Roy Thurman (left) and William Thurman.

Credit: GoFundMe

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Credit: GoFundMe

July 17: William Stewart called his wife shortly before 5:30 a.m. to say he was on his way home from work, according to DeKalb County police. He never made it. Stewart's wife used a cellphone app to track him a Panola Road gas station, then took a Lyft to find him. Stewart, 34, was found dead inside his car. Investigators determined he died from blunt force trauma. Store surveillance cameras didn't capture the attack on Stewart, police said.

>> MORE: Man found in car outside gas station was killed, police say

July 20: Willie Mosley Jr., a father of two young children, was leaving the 50 Yard Line Bar and Grill in South Fulton when he killed in a drive-by shooting, according to police. Witnesses reported that shots were fired from a silver SUV driving northbound on Old National Highway shortly after 4 a.m. A bullet went through Mosley's windshield and struck him in the head, according to South Fulton police. About seven minutes later, gunshots were fired in the parking lot of Jamerican Bar and Grill down the road, and witnesses also reported seeing a silver SUV. Investigators believe two men seen entering Jamerican earlier in the evening may have been responsible.

Investigators hope surveillance cameras images help identify two suspects in a July homicide in South Fulton.

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Aug. 17: Mercedes De-Jesus Antunez Flores, 43, a Honduras native, was found dead inside a mobile home just south of Marietta. He had been shot multiple times, according to Cobb County police. Investigators released surveillance video of the suspect, believed to be between 5 feet, 8 inches and 5 feet, 10 inches tall. He is described as having a skinny build and hair on his chin. The GBI sketch artist released an image of the suspect. Flores' death remains the only homicide case from 2019 still open for Cobb police, a spokeswoman said Monday.

>> MORE: Suspect sought in deadly shooting at Cobb mobile home park

<p>Jessica Daniels</p>

Credit: � 2019 Cox Media Group.

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Credit: � 2019 Cox Media Group.

Oct. 3: Daniels was asleep in her bed when several gunshots were fired outside her family's south Atlanta home.  "Granddaddy!" she cried out, "I've been shot!" Daniels' mother, Sanmarian McClain, told The AJC she has raised money to help raise the reward to $18,000 for information leading police to her daughter's killer. Atlanta police continue to investigate.

>> MORE: "How do I go on?" mother asks after teen's death

Oct. 5: Frankie Tyrone Russell, 48, worked for 14 years at Emory University Hospital handling medical billing and coding. He was also a father and an avid softball player and coach. In October, he was shot and killed in the dining room of his DeKalb County home off Deer Springs Drive, according to police. Investigators were able to get some images of the suspect from security cameras in the home, but have not yet identified him. "You thought you were gonna gain something by taking my father's life when really you didn't gain anything," Ashley Russell said. "You took my father's life over absolutely nothing."

>> MORE: DeKalb family pleads for help finding man's killer

Ashley Russell (far left) is asking the public for help in identifying the man (far right) accused of shooting and killing her father, Frankie Russell (left).

Credit: Channel 2 Action News

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Credit: Channel 2 Action News

Anyone with information on any of these unsolved cases is asked to contact the police agency investigating the crime. Tipsters can also submit information anonymously through Crime Stoppers Atlanta by calling 404-577-TIPS (8477) or through the organization's website, www.stopcrimeatlanta.com

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