When the woman’s body was found, DeKalb County police didn’t have much to go on as they began their investigation.
Caritha Blanks, 43, had been stabbed multiple times and left on Memorial Drive in the middle of the night in June, with no obvious suspects for police to pursue.
The case ended with a man facing a murder charge and accused of being a fugitive from justice related to a case out of Chicago.
DeKalb County Detective Drew Collins, the lead detective on the case, explained how surveillance evidence and the public’s help led to the arrest of 35-year-old Randy Haynes.
The case began when Blanks was found on the side of Memorial Drive in the Stone Mountain on June 3 about 11:30 p.m. She was located in a busy commercial district north of North Indian Creek Road and the Georgia State University Perimeter College Clarkston campus.
» RELATED: Woman stabbed to death on Memorial Drive in DeKalb County
Detectives realized that Blanks had been attacked in a different location than where she was found. They used physical evidence to “backtrack to where she was actually stabbed,” which was slightly down the road on Memorial Drive, Collins said.
From there, they pulled surveillance video, which showed the violent attack, Collins said.
“You see the victim attempting to get away, and then you see the suspect stab (her) at least two times,” he said. “That is on camera.”
The police department released pictures of the man seen in the video, and “we were able to get several leads within the first 24 hours,” Collins said.
That led them to Haynes, whom they found at his home. They discovered there was a warrant out for his arrest from Cook County, Illinois, the detective said. It’s not clear what he was wanted for.
Detectives interviewed him at the jail, and “he stated that he was the person in the video,” Collins said. They charged him with murder in late August.
He appeared in a DeKalb County courtroom last week, where a judge ruled there was probable cause to continue with the case.
He remains held in the DeKalb jail without bond, but he is scheduled to appear for a bond hearing next Thursday.
Collins said it is unclear why Blanks and Haynes were together that night, but it’s possible they were in contact earlier that day. It’s also unknown what exactly led to the stabbing. Haynes may have been attempting to “solicit from her,” Collins said.
“We don’t know what his motive was. It could've been a robbery, it could've been just an assault,” Collins said, adding that Haynes allegedly left with the victim’s purse and cell phone.
As for the alleged murder weapon, the detective said, it is believed that Blanks brought the knife that night for her own protection.
Blanks had two adult children and a teenage daughter, Collins said. He has been in contact with her sister, who lives in New York. He hopes Haynes’ arrest helps bring closure to the family.
“It feels good. We started this with absolutely nothing,” he said. “It was literally just a woman found on the street by a passerby.”
AJC staff reporter Chelsea Prince contributed to this report.
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