Deon Mayes was 29 years old when he was killed in Atlanta on Thursday, July 26, 2007. The Atlanta Police Department 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.
Beyond his name, his age and the date of his death, almost nothing about Deon Mayes has been made public.
No news story about the killing, memorial page or family fundraiser could be found for this account. He surely had family, friends and neighbors who remember who he was, but little of that has entered the public record.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown. The record does not say how he was killed, whether he was attacked indoors or on the street, whether he knew his attacker, or whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital. It does not say whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
Deon Mayes's name also appears in a 2018 Washington Post investigation that listed thousands of homicide victims in major American cities whose killings had not led to an arrest.
Deon Mayes is also a name shared by several living people, including an electrical worker active in a union group, a college football player, a high school athlete in Texas and a man who posts often on social media from the Atlanta area. None of them is the 29-year-old who died in July 2007, and their records crowd out any trace of his own story, which may help explain why it has been so hard to follow.
His age stands out as well. At 29, he was old enough to have been working, raising children or supporting a family, and young enough that many of the people who knew him, including friends, siblings and former classmates, are likely still living in the Atlanta area today.
The location recorded in the database places his death in northwest Atlanta, on the Westside, an area of older neighborhoods and busy corridors west of Midtown. His death came on a Thursday in late July, at the height of summer, when people in the area were likely to be outside and may have seen or heard something.
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 were young men killed with guns, and many of those killings never led to an arrest. Cases with few public details often faded from view quickly.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Deon Mayes 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 Deon Mayes, saw him in the days before he died, or heard talk afterward of what happened to him, 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.
