Atlanta police say investigators now believe a 24-year-old woman reported missing nearly two months ago was murdered at her last known location, but the body remains unrecovered, and a second suspect is at large.
At a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, authorities announced a development in the disappearance of 24-year-old Allahnia Lenoir, who was reported missing via a 911 call on Aug. 1.
"At this point, we have developed enough evidence to suggest that Allahnia was murdered and that her body was disposed of," Atlanta Police Major Peter Malecki told reporters.
Investigators secured Fulton County arrest warrants for 29-year-old Diante Reynolds and 29-year-old Steven Oboite on the charges of felony murder and concealing the death of another. Reynolds has already been apprehended in Conyers, Georgia, and was transported back to Fulton County Jail.
But police are asking the media and the public for help locating Oboite. At this time, Malecki said investigators still believe Oboite might be in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
"Our ultimate goal is to be able to locate the body of Allahnia and provide closure to this grieving family," Malecki said, adding that investigators were still trying to determine a potential motive. "That is one of our hopes that during this second apprehension, we will get that information and be able to bring her home to her family."
Within the first 24 hours of the case, Malecki said the missing persons unit, through technology and video information, determined Lenoir’s last known location. She was last spotted in the early morning hours of July 31 at a Midtown apartment with the address of 1616 Peach Tree St. Investigators did suspect foul play in her disappearance.
"We did know that she did not at any point leave 1616 Peach Street on her own accord. We do believe that she had died inside the apartment and then was potentially relocated to an undetermined location," Malecki said. "We conducted numerous manual searches at areas where technological evidence suggested Allahnia may be located without success. We utilized the assistance of cadaver dogs, homicide detectives and entire police recruit classes."
Malecki said the suspects and the victim has an "acquaintanceship" or "friendship" before the murder but declined to go into further detail amid the active investigation.
