Ernest Leary was 22 years old when he was killed in Atlanta on Sunday, January 28, 2007. The Atlanta Police Department Homicide Unit investigated his death, and the Washington Post's homicide database, which tracked killings in Atlanta from 2007 through 2017, lists it as a homicide that remained open with no arrest.
His full name appears to have been Ernest Lee Leary III.
A news obituary listing published on January 30, 2007, reported that Ernest Lee Leary III, 22, had died on Sunday, matching the day and age in the database, and that funeral plans would be announced by Hines Home of Funerals. A family-placed death notice later announced his funeral services. Neither notice describes how he died, and no news story about the killing could be found for this account.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say how he was killed, whether he was attacked indoors or on the street, whether he knew his attacker, what time of day it happened, or whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital. It does not say whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
Ernest Leary's name also appears in a 2018 Washington Post investigation that listed thousands of homicide victims across major American cities whose killings had not led to an arrest, meaning the case was still counted among them more than a decade later.
His age stands out. At 22, he was barely an adult, and the suffix III suggests he was named for his father and grandfather, a family line that would have felt his loss deeply. Young men his age made up a large share of Atlanta's homicide victims in those years, and many of their cases were never solved. Friends from school or the neighborhood may still remember the last days of January 2007.
The location recorded in the Post's database places his death in southwest Atlanta, well west and south of downtown. People who lived or worked in that area at the time may remember the police activity that followed his death, and may know more than they realize about what happened.
Atlanta, the capital of Georgia and the center of a metro area of more than 5 million people, recorded roughly 75 to 130 homicides a year between 2007 and 2017. Most victims in those years were young men, and most were killed with guns. Many killings from those years never led to an arrest, and the Washington Post's 2018 investigation counted Atlanta among the cities with large numbers of unsolved homicides. Cases with few public details, like his, often faded from view quickly.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Ernest Leary could be found in news archives or public records. More than 19 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew Ernest Lee Leary III, went to school with him, or saw him on the weekend of January 27 and 28, 2007, may be able to help. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a car seen leaving the area or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Anyone with information can call the Atlanta Police Department Homicide Unit at 404-546-4235, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers Greater Atlanta at 404-577-TIPS (404-577-8477), which may pay a cash reward for information that leads to an arrest.
