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Newton County cold case of murder of Atlanta airport worker now 3 years old

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Updated  February 3, 2021 11:21pm EST
Crime and Public Safety
FOX 5 Atlanta

3 years after airport worker killed, murderer still out there

Three years later, investigators still trying to find the murder suspect in the death of an airport worker.

NEWTON COUNTY, Ga - A young woman disappeared after leaving work at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in March of 2018. Her body was later found 40 miles away. It's been three years and investigators need help finding out what happened.

Shanequa Sullivan was 23 years old. The young woman, who had autism, worked for a janitorial service that had a contract with the airport. She was leaving work on February 4, 2018. Like she always did, she headed to the MARTA station, then she seemed to have vanished.

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Family and friends put out flyers and there were desperate searches for her. One month later on March 3, her body was found 40 miles away in the Yellow River in Newton County.

"When the case was new I got calls from people all over the world. I got one call from South Africa, one from the United Kingdom and from all over the United States," said Newton County Sheriff's Investigator Jeff Alexander.

That was three years ago. The tips have stopped coming in and the leads have dried up.

"At this point just throwing our hands up in the air, there's nothing new for us to follow up on," said Alexander.

The case was hindered early on when surveillance video of Shanequa as she was leaving work was automatically purged before Atlanta police retrieved it.

"We were informed that the Atlanta Airport Police Department only stored video for a 28-day period and we were already outside that 28-day period when we found her body," said Alexander.

Investigator Alexander stays in close contact with Shanequa's family.

"We always get from her grandmother that she's continuing to pray for us that we get this solved. When I don't have anything new to offer, it's difficult," said Alexander.

Investigators remind everyone that any piece of information could help. This is a Crime Stoppers case and a reward is being offered.

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