Piedmont Park murder reminds investigators of decades-old cold case

ATLANTA - New details have emerged about the late July killing of a Midtown resident in Piedmont Park.

Katie Janness and her dog were killed inside the Midtown park on July 27. Her partner found her body by the Charles Allen entrance off 10th Street. She was stabbed to death, police said. But the attack went beyond even that. It was what police refer to as an overkill.

The assailant used an instrument to carve a message on the torso of Jahnness.

The action brought to mind an old case involving a different female victim investigated by former homicide detective Vincent Velazquez. That body was discovered in east Atlanta along Flat Shoals Road.

"The killer carved an initial ‘V’ on the forehead of the woman," Velazquez said. "He demonstrated a hatred of women and was diagnosed with a mental illness."

The former detective said the victim's first name was Valerie. That killer is locked up and was in prison on the night that Katie was killed.

In the potential message killing of Ms. Janness, police sources have told FOX 5 what was carved into her torso. Police do not want that information revealed because deputy chief Charles Hampton, said, "there are details that only the killer would know about."

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