Some surveillance cameras weren’t working at a popular Atlanta park where a woman and her dog were killed in a “gruesome” attack, according to a report.
A security camera near the entrance of Piedmont Park in the city’s Midtown neighborhood caught the last known photo of Katherine Janness, 40, walking her beloved Bowie before the pair were found stabbed early Wednesday morning.
But other surveillance cams in the area, including one facing the park’s entrance, weren’t working at the time, relatives of the woman’s girlfriend told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“If it had been working, it would have shown something,” Heather Johnson told the newspaper Friday.
Johnson’s cousin, Emma Clark, was Janness’ partner of seven years and used a cellphone app to track the woman to the park near the couple’s home and found her and their 3-year-old dog fatally stabbed.
Police told The Post no arrests had been made as of Monday, days after cops returned to Piedmont Park Saturday to conduct a “tactical neighborhood canvas” of the area, the newspaper reported.
Atlanta police said the cameras inside the park are operated by the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation. Footage from the green space was being reviewed for any potential clues that could help in the ongoing homicide probe, department officials said.
“The Atlanta Police Department continues to work with the DPR on this investigation,” cops said in a statement.
Janness’ stabbing, which Atlanta police Deputy Chief Charles Hampton has described as “gruesome,” is believed to be the first homicide in the park since 2009. The slaying of 43-year-old Patrick Boland also remains unsolved, the Journal-Constitution reported.
Cops increased patrols in and around the park on Saturday amid fears by some residents that it’s unsafe, but department officials have reportedly not said if any of the cameras there were malfunctioning on the night Janness — who worked as a bartender at a nearby restaurant — was brutally attacked.
Clark’s family, meanwhile, is holding onto hope that another piece of evidence will lead to an arrest.
“We are in the day and age where you have to be a complete idiot to commit a crime, Johnson told the newspaper. “Any crime.”
The FBI is assisting Atlanta cops in the investigation. A $10,000 reward has been offered for information leading to a break in the case.
Janness had planned to visit her mother this week in Michigan, the Journal-Constitution reported.
An online fundraiser set up in her memory had raised more than $61,000 as of Monday.
“She was the most intelligent, kind, humble and beautiful person I have ever known,” Clark wrote. “I wanted to spend every second with her … My heart is so very broken, my world will never be the same.”
