Atlanta police canvassed Piedmont Park and the surrounding neighborhood on Saturday for clues into the brutal murder of a 40-year-old woman.
Katherine “Katie” Janness was stabbed and dismembered while walking her dog sometime before midnight Tuesday, July 27, in Midtown Atlanta.
Janness’ life partner pinged her phone and found Janness’ dismembered remains around 1 a.m. Wednesday, about 100 yards inside the Charles Allen Drive entrance to Piedmont Park.
Janness’ dog Bowie was also fatally stabbed. The dog’s saliva will be analyzed for DNA to help catch the killer.
Joe Clark, the father of Janness’ life partner, told 11Alive‘s Joe Henke on Thursday, “the dog died protecting Katie.”
“There is a monster on the loose in the city of Atlanta,” Clark said.
The FBI confirmed on Thursday that it was joining the investigation. Neither the APD nor FBI explained why the feds were involved in a local murder case.
According to police records obtained by 11Alive, the last murder in Piedmont Park was in May 2009. 43-year-old Patrick Boland was found stabbed to death around 1:30 a.m. on May 28, 2009. His killer was never caught.
Investigators are not ruling out a serial killer on the loose in Atlanta. Janness was the second woman killed in an Atlanta area park in 24 hours.
Tori Lang, 18, was shot to death inside Yellow River Park in Gwinnett County on Tuesday, July 27. Her body was found under a tree around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday. There are no suspects in her murder.
