First she heard a loud boom, then she discovered what she thought was a Halloween decoration lying behind her DeKalb County apartment.
Adrienne Hall told Channel 2 Action News she saw “what I think is some leftover Halloween mannequin” when the sun came up early Sunday morning. She called her fiance, Kevin Harris, who quickly determined it was a dismembered man’s body. Harris called 911.
“I’m looking at it from the jump, it didn't look like a Halloween decoration,” he said. “I don’t know anybody in this neighborhood that goes to that kind of detail.”
The FBI confirmed that a man was killed in an overnight explosion, although the cause of the explosion has not been determined. The man was identified Wednesday as 30-year-old James Douglas Lark of Atlanta.
“It has been determined there was some sort of explosion that caused the death of one male individual,” FBI spokesman Kevin Rowson said in a statement. “At this point there is no indication that the incident is connected to terrorism.”
Agents collected evidence at the scene Sunday that is being sent to the FBI crime lab in Quantico, Virginia, for further examination, he said. The FBI returned to Lark’s home Wednesday to execute a search warrant, but no other information was released, Channel 2 reported.
Multiple neighbors heard the boom about 1:30 a.m., they told Channel 2. Some thought it was a gunshot. Terri Williams said she knew it was something bigger than a firearm.
“It was massive like an explosion, like a generator popped or exploded, or a hot water tank explosion, something like that big,” she told the news station. “It wasn't even something that backfired, like something was being blown up.”
When they woke up, they said they saw police tape and investigators around their complex.
“I'm just in a wave of emotions,” Hall, who discovered the body, told Channel 2. “I started out angry. Now my heart is heavy because now that this is a person, his family has to be notified.”
Anyone with information is asked to call the FBI Atlanta office at 770-216-3000.
