ATLANTA — Friday marks two years since Katie Janness, 40, and her dog, Bowie, were gruesomely murdered at an entrance to Piedmont Park.
Atlanta police have not made any arrests or identified any suspects in the two years since Janness’ death.
Janness’ partner, Emma Clark, found her stabbed to death outside the park when she didn’t return home from walking the couple’s dog, Bowie.
According to the autopsy report, Janness’ throat had been slashed and the word ‘fat’ had been carved into her body, among other injuries.
The park is still a popular place for people to relax and walk their dogs, the fear seemingly gone.
“You don’t forget things like that, but you can’t live your life in fear,” parkgoer Sondra Walker said.
Keith Howard retired from the state of Georgia after 30 years and worked with the GBI’s Public Safety Training Center. He is now the Chief Deputy with the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office.
“We took advantage of the open source information that was out there just to talk about how we would use our methodology if we had been asked to work a particular case like that or another case similar to it,” Howard explained.
He says one of the first things that stood out to him was the brutality of the crime.
Janness’ private areas were also mutilated by her attacker.
“If you see that type of behavior, then that is most often associated with some strong sexual desires or gratification by an offender,” he said. “If this was some type of lust murderer that’s driven by his fantasies to murder people and is sexually excited by that, then typically, most often in those cases, the victim is unknown to the offender.”
Atlanta police are planning to update the public on the status of Janness’ case on Friday.
Emma Clark and her family released a statement saying they are still hopeful that her murderer will be caught.
Recently, Cox Media Group’s Nicole Bennett had the opportunity to speak with Michael Seiden, a reporter for WSB-TV in Atlanta, about Katie Janness. Seiden joined WSB-TV in 2018 and since then, he has reported extensively on law enforcement and the justice system. Over the past two years, Seiden has followed Katie Janness’ case very closely.
>> Listen to the full episode below.
Beyond Criminal Headlines is a podcast in which Cox Media Group’s Nicole Bennett sits down with experts who’ve investigated some of the most notorious cases in U.S. history. Find the latest ‘Beyond Criminal Headlines’ content on any podcast provider or listen on demand here.