From century-old secrets to cases that inspired the AMBER Alert system, these five high-profile Georgia cold cases continue to confound investigators and true-crime sleuths alike.
Content warning: This article contains some graphic descriptions of murder.
While television shows like “Unsolved Mysteries” have captivated audiences for decades, there has been a rise in true-crime enthusiasts in recent years. Driven largely by the explosion of investigative podcasts, the genre is estimated to be a multibillion-dollar industry.
As a result of its popularity, some national cases have been resurfaced, and some have even been reopened for further investigation. In fact, in 2025, the 2017 Atlanta kidnapping case of Abdul Aziz Khan was successfully resolved from tips generated from a Netflix broadcast of “Unsolved Mysteries.”
In Georgia, there are more than 11,000 cold cases. Some have been the subject of magazine articles, some have been the topic of podcasts, and some are still waiting for their moment in the spotlight, hoping to be resolved.
Here, we present five unsolved mysteries that have left Georgians scratching their heads.
A killer without a face leaves a city without answers
One of the most haunting serial killer cases is that of the Atlanta Ripper. The eerie moniker alone will send chills down your spine. Pair that with the fact that it’s dubbed “Atlanta’s first modern serial killer,” and this is a case you have to know more about.
Between 1911 and 1915, this elusive predator prowled the dimly lit city streets under the cover of darkness, targeting young, working-class Black women as his victims. Terror gripped the community so deeply that female residents began organizing their own protective escorts just to walk home from work after dark.
At the time, police tied at least 15 murders to the perpetrator, detaining dozens of suspects, yet every single lead eventually evaporated. By 1915, the murders abruptly stopped as quickly as they had started.
Due to the Jim Crow Era and deep racial bias and segregation, local white authorities and media ultimately narrowed their coverage and looked away, burying the tragedy in historical archives and leaving these families without justice.
The suspicious death of a sports superstar, and the society scandal that was buried with him
The bizarre death of J. Douglas Edgar reads less like a historical record and more like a high-society thriller. Long before the glamorous era of modern professional sports, Edgar was a global golfing superstar. He even mentored the legendary Bobby Jones at Atlanta’s exclusive Druid Hills Golf Club.
But on a sweltering August night in 1921, his glittering career came to a horrific end when his body was found in the middle of an Atlanta street. While early reports chalked the tragedy up to a hit-and-run, a closer look by medics revealed something far more sinister. He had a deep, precise puncture wound that severed his femoral artery.
Scandal immediately rocked the city’s wealthy elite as rumors swirled of a dangerous, secret love triangle involving Edgar and a prominent married woman. Despite a media frenzy and a police investigation, the tight-lipped country club crowd and a complete lack of hard evidence ensured that the trail went cold.
The case that shook a city, and the doubt that outlasted the verdict
Between 1979 and 1981, a dark cloud hung over Atlanta while the Atlanta Child Murders were making headlines. Curfews were enacted, parents refused to let their children out of their sight, and a massive task force was formed as fear paralyzed the community.
Unlike the adults targeted in the Ripper cases, this killer preyed upon the city’s Black children and adolescents. Mostly boys, the victims ranged in age from 7 to 21, and often vanished from their neighborhoods in broad daylight, only to later have their bodies found in the woods or worse, the waters of the Chattahoochee River.
While police attributed 28 deaths to the murderer, local families and advocates argued the number was actually much higher. Eventually, police arrested and tried 23-year-old Wayne Williams for killing two of the oldest victims, who were both 21.
While he was convicted of those crimes, police also attached 22 of the remaining 27 child murders to his name. However, many of the child victims’ families, as well as the general public, were unconvinced of his guilt. As a result, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Atlanta police officially reopened the cases for modern DNA testing in recent years.
A bicycle, a boy, and a mystery that changed the state forever
The devastating case of Levi Frady remains unsolved, but its impact ripples through the state to this day. It inspired the creation of Levi’s Call, Georgia’s own version of the AMBER Alert system. Sadly, the case that inspired that call system has never had a resolution.
In October 1997, sixth grader Levi Frady was riding his bicycle home from a friend’s house when he vanished. His bike was later discovered abandoned, and the next day, Oct. 28, the first day of deer hunting season, hunters discovered his body, roughly 20 miles away from his home. He had been shot.
While two suspects were named, no arrests were ever made. Investigators maintain the belief that the location of the body, deep in the woods, suggests the killer had precise, intimate familiarity with the layout of the forest in order to navigate it in darkness.
To this day, the case remains a top priority for local police. The GBI, Dawson County Sheriff’s Office, and Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office still re-release the composite sketches.
Behind the gates and manicured lawns, a lake mystery remains
On Mother’s Day weekend 2014, an incredibly mysterious, high-profile double murder occurred.
Russell Dermond (88), a retired fast-food chain executive and World War II veteran, and his wife, Shirley Dermond (87), had been married for 68 years and were highly respected by their neighbors in Great Waters at Reynolds Lake Oconee, a heavily secured, ultra-private, luxury golf community.
When the couple uncharacteristically missed a social gathering, concerned neighbors went to check on them and discovered Russell Dermond’s beheaded body in the garage. Ten days later, fishermen on Lake Oconee discovered Shirley’s body in the water. She had sustained injuries from trauma to the head and was weighted down with cinder blocks.
Police found no evidence of forced entry, no stolen items, and virtually no physical evidence, such as DNA or footprints. Despite a massive investigation, there has never been a proven motive or suspect.
