Dooran Yoo, an 80-year-old Asian female, had been a fixture in her Atlanta community for 14 years, operating the Martin Luther King Jr. Drive Coin Laundry. Her life came to a violent and tragic end on the morning of September 1, 2009. She had just opened her family-run business for the day around 7:30 a.m. when she was confronted by robbers. The assailants forced their way inside the laundromat, and in a brave act of defiance, Ms. Yoo attempted to defend herself with a broom.
This act of resistance was captured on a surveillance camera, though the attacker was not visible in the footage. The robbers shot her before fleeing with a mere $2.
The senseless violence for such a small sum sent shockwaves through the neighborhood. Friends, customers, and neighbors gathered for a vigil outside the closed laundromat, leaving behind stuffed bears and flowers as they mourned the loss of the kind-hearted grandmother. She was remembered as a sweet, church-going woman who treated everyone like family and was an active member of the Antioch Korean Baptist Church. Her family, who had moved to the United States from South Korea about two decades prior, was left devastated by the sudden and brutal loss of their matriarch.
In the immediate aftermath, the Atlanta Police Department acknowledged they had very few leads in the case. In an effort to solicit information from the public, CrimeStoppers announced a $12,000 reward for any tips that could lead to the identification of the suspect or suspects responsible for her death. The reward was significantly increased from the usual amount due to the heinous nature of the crime. Despite these efforts and the public outcry, no arrests have ever been made in the killing of Dooran Yoo. Her case remains an unsolved homicide in the Atlanta Police Department's cold case files.
