Arrest Made In Atlanta Cold Case Murder

ATLANTA, GA -- A man has been arrested in connection with the death of a metro Atlanta woman more than two decades ago. Fulton County Police have arrested Jerry Lee in the 1997 murder of Lorrie Ann Smith, 21 years after her body was found at her home on Stonewall Tell Road. Lee was arrested Friday, October 26 at a hotel in Alabama. He was brought back to Georgia on November 1.

After the arrest, police immediately notified Smith’s parents, who discovered the body of their 28-year-old daughter in her bedroom on the morning of Sunday, May 25, 1997. Smith was shot several times in the back, though there was no sign of forced entry, sexual assault or robbery at the home. She fought back against her killer, and a significant amount of the suspect’s blood was found in the home.

Police identified Lee through advanced technologies in DNA testing, with results confirmed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation on Thursday, October 25. Despite a reward of more than $30,000 and DNA tests conducted on more than 100 individuals over the last 21 years, Police had been unable to positively identify the suspect until this week.

Smith was a marketing professional and a youth counselor at Union Christian Church of College Park and who spoke several languages and loved music.

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