• Publication: The Athens Observer (Athens, Georgia)
• Author: Betsy Shearron
• Original Publication Date: Thursday, June 11, 1992

Although there are “no concrete suspects” at this time, Athens-Clarke County police say the murder case of Jennifer Lynn Stone remains a top priority within the department.

Stone, a 22-year-old senior at the University of Georgia, was found strangled in her N. Hull Street apartment April 23.

“We’re not getting the headlines we got early on, but we’re still working just as hard on this case,” said Sgt. Alan Brown of the Athens-Clarke County Police.

Although Brown admitted that the police investigation has been slowed somewhat while detectives await results from the crime lab on evidence taken from the crime scene, he added that officers have kept busy gathering several volumes of additional information.

“We’ve been canvassing the downtown area and talking to friends and acquaintances again and again. We’ve gone back through everything again and computerized it so we can cross-reference things. It gives everyone who’s working on the case access to information the other officers have gathered. We’re coming up with questions that might not be answered from someone else’s point of view.”

Brown is no stranger to high-profile murder cases. He also worked on the Clinton Bankston murder case in 1987. Bankston, a 16-year-old high school dropout at the time, was convicted of the brutal murders of five Athenians. Bankston’s first murders, of Drs. William and Rachel Sutton, were committed in April of 1987. He struck again in August of the same year, killing Ann Orr Morris, Sally Orr Nathanson and Helen Nathanson. Many people who lived in Athens at the time compare the fear and frustration of that five-month period to the atmosphere in Athens now.

“It is frustrating, but it’s frustrating to law enforcement people, too,” said former Athens Police Chief Everett Price, who headed the Bankston investigation. “The public wants to know what you’re doing, but you can’t talk about the things you’re finding out because it could potentially damage your case. It’s hard — you want to let people know you’re working hard and making progress, but you can’t jeopardize your case. The ultimate objective is to get a conviction.”

According to Price, a six or seven week wait is not unusual when working with the Atlanta crime lab.

“There could be 20 or 30 other cases ahead of this one,” Price said. “Obviously, this is a top priority in Athens, but the crime lab has cases from all over the state. The most agonizing part of a case is waiting for crime lab reports.”

But Price added that crime lab reports can often make or break a case.

“I don’t know the particulars of this case, but a lot of times the crime scene will give you your case or sometimes cause you to lose your case,” Price said. “You’ll think you have a suspect, and then when the crime scene results come back, that person isn’t a suspect anymore.”

Price said evidence taken from a crime scene can range from fingerprints and footprints to hair samples to fibers, like the ones that ultimately linked Wayne Williams to the Atlanta child murders.

“You’re looking for anything that might be out of place,” Price said. “Sometimes you don’t even know what you have until the crime lab tells you. You may already have your case sitting in Atlanta.”

Although, statistically speaking, the chances for an arrest decrease as time goes by in a murder case, Brown said those statistics can be misleading.

“That’s substanially true, but that’s because, in most homicides, the ones that are solved are solved almost immediately,” he said. “That’s because there’s a boyfriend or a husband or a friend there with a ‘smoking gun.’ The tough cases can take a long time.”

Because most homicides involve an acquaintance of the victim, Brown said many of Stone’s acquaintances have been questioned repeatedly.

“There are close acquaintances that have been scrutinized, but obviously they haven’t been arrested,” he said. “With most homicides, really most violent crimes you look at close acquaintances because statistics indicate they’re often involved. But so far there’s nothing to suggest that’s the case here.”

On the other hand, Brown said that many of Stone’s friends have been questioned simply so that police can learn more about Jennifer Stone.

“It helps us understand what Jenny was like, what her lifestyle was like,” Brown explained. “It helps us, because we can predict how she might have reacted in certain situations.”

In the 1987 Bankston case, police got a break when Bankston stole a car from the second murder scene and police found the car in front of the home of Bankston’s grandmother. Although neither Brown or Price would comment on when or if Bankston would have been apprehended otherwise, Brown said he expects the police department to use the same work ethic it did in 1987 on the Jennifer Stone case.

“Five months after the first murders in the Bankston case, it was still all I was working on,” Brown said. “And I expect this case to be a top priority for some time, too. We come to work here every day. We don’t forget about it. We want to find out who did this.”

Ironically, those who didn’t know Jennifer Stone may be the most anxious for police to find her killer.

“In some ways, we’re probably not as frustrated as a lot of people are,” said one of Stone’s close friends. “Her friends and family take the attitude that we don’t try to figure out who did it anymore. The sense of wanting vengeance is gone, too. The police are taking a long time, but time doesn’t really seem real anymore. They could find out who did it tomorrow, or it could be months, but it’s not going to change what happened. It’s not going to bring Jenny back.”

Several of Stone’s friends have put together an exhibit of Stone’s photographs, which will open next week. Stone was majoring in journalism and had hoped to have a career as a photographer in the advertising field. This Saturday, Stone’s parents are expected to be in the President’s box at Sanford Stadium when she is awarded her diploma posthumously.

[Photo caption, page 6] Multi-exposure portrait of Jennifer Stone by Jason Moore.