Michael A. Whisnant, a 32-year-old quality control engineer from Shelby, North Carolina, was killed while attending an electronics seminar in Atlanta in May 1990. His body was found on May 16, 1990, under a bed in his room at the Atlanta Hilton; he had been strangled with a cord and left handcuffed.

Investigators identified Henry Eugene Hodges as a suspect after learning Hodges had met Whisnant at a gay bar and arranged to engage in sexual activity for $75. An argument reportedly broke out when Whisnant could pay only $25, and Hodges handcuffed and fatally strangled him with a curtain cord. Hodges was arrested in Shelby, North Carolina, on May 18, 1990, along with a 15-year-old companion, Trina Brown; authorities recovered a .22-caliber handgun and jewelry tied to another slaying.

Hodges confessed to Whisnant’s murder and to killing at least seven other men between 1988 and 1990. In Fulton County Superior Court on July 31, 1990, he pleaded guilty to the murder of Michael Whisnant and received a life sentence. Did anyone who knew Michael or who was in Atlanta that week notice anything unusual at the hotel or in the area?