Vanessa Malone was 18 when she left her Stone Mountain, Georgia home on the night of October 23, 2012, to visit friends at a nearby apartment. Witnesses say between three and six armed men dressed in black forced their way into the residence, bound two occupants and began robbing the place. When Vanessa arrived she was shot multiple times; the assailants dragged her to a back bedroom closet. A man and a woman in the apartment later freed themselves and called police. By the time officers arrived Vanessa was dead. Only her cell phone was reported stolen, and her family has questioned whether the robbery story tells the whole truth.

The case grew cold for years as Vanessa’s mother, Flora, kept attention on the killing. In April 2020 DeKalb County police arrested 34-year-old Donald Ash and charged him with second-degree murder, concealing facts and making false statements. Investigators say a gun seized from Ash in an unrelated arrest was ballistically matched to the weapon that killed Vanessa and that Ash’s blood matched evidence from the scene. Authorities say they believe others were involved and the investigation remains ongoing.

Did anyone who knew Vanessa or was in that apartment that night see or hear anything that could help the investigation?