Ernesto Eden, previously unidentified, was discovered deceased behind a store on Columbia Drive in Decatur on February 6, 2022.  He appeared to be unhoused and living behind the business.  Eden did not have any identification  and his fingerprints did not generate a match in the Automated Fingerprint Identification system, or AFIS.  

Details of the case were entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) as #UP103162.  

The Task Force was able to locate two potential relatives in Georgia and another in Nevada.  Using existing DNA profiles for two of the relatives and a new sample from the third, Othram, a private lab in The Woodlands, Texas, confirmed the remains were those of Ernesto Eden, 58.  

Harold Dean Lewis, previously unidentified, was discovered in a wooded area off Wesley Chapel Road in May 2021.  A man flying a drone lost control and it crashed.  When he went to search for the drone, he found a human skull and called 911.  Officers from the DeKalb County Police Department and staff from the DeKalb County Medical Examiner's Office were able to locate more remains in the surrounding area.  

Details of the case were entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) as #UP101174.  

In October 2024, investigators identified Lewis through a DNA match in the Combined DNA Index System, known as CODIS.  Mr. Lewis was born in July 1955.  His age at death is undetermined.  

Steve Armstrong, previously unidentified, was transported to Atlanta Medical Center on September 24, 2018 after suffering an apparent cardiac arrest inside the restaurant at a Pilot Travel Center on Bouldercrest Road in Atlanta.  He did not survive.  Details of the case were entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) as #UP61155.  

In 2024, the DeKalb County District Attorney's Office submitted forensic evidence to Othram, a private lab in The Woodlands, Texas.  Othram scientists successfully developed a DNA extract from the forensic evidence and used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing® to build a comprehensive DNA profile for the unknown man.  A reference sample was collected from a potential relative and compared to the DNA profile of the man.  This investigation led to the positive identification of Steve Armstrong, 59, of Jackson, Tennessee.  

Jacqueline Stafford, 69, previously unidentified, was found deceased near a gas station in Tucker, Georgia on May 4, 2022.  She appeared to be living behind a fenced-off area next to the business.  

In August 2023, investigators idenfied Stafford through a DNA match in the Combined DNA Index System, known as CODIS.  

Her cause of death was  undetermined.  

If you have any information relating to the death of Jacqueline Stafford please click here to make a call to the DKDA Cold Case Tip Line at (404) 371-2444.  

On October 6, 1989, Ore Pearson, previously unidentified, was crossing the street at the intersection of Oakview Drive and Second Avenue in Decatur when he was struck by a car.  Pearson was transported to Grady Memorial Hospital, but died of his injuries.  

He was identified using fingerprints in 2023.  

Please contact the DeKalb County District Attorney's Office Cold Case Tip Line at (404) 371-2444 if you have any information on this case or click here to make the call anonymously.  

On June 10, 2013, a group of juveniles were playing at an abandoned apartment complex at 1539 Bouldercrest Road when they discovered a human skull inside one of the units.  They realized the skull was real and called 911.  An investigator with the DeKalb County Medical Examiner's Office went out to the scene and found several items with the name Alvin Smith on them, though his identity could not be confirmed at the time.  

Smith was positively identified in 2023 through traditional investigative means.  

Smith's cause of death is undetermined.  

If you have any information relating to the death of Alvin Smith please click here to make a call to the DKDA Cold Case Tip Line at (404) 371-2444.