Terry Wilcox, 48, of Atlanta, was killed in the city on Saturday, August 4, 2007. The Atlanta Police Department investigated, and the Washington Post's homicide database, which tracked killings in Atlanta from 2007 through 2017, lists his death as a homicide that remained open with no arrest.
Very little about how he died has been made public. No news story describing the killing could be found for this account.
The record does not say how he was killed, what time of day it happened, whether he was attacked at home or outdoors, whether he knew his attacker, or whether anyone else was hurt. No suspect description, vehicle or motive has been released, and no reward offer could be found.
A family death notice published on August 7, 2007, three days after his death, appears to refer to him. It announced a homegoing service for Mr. Terry Wilcox of Ard Place in Atlanta, held on Saturday, August 11, 2007, at 1 p.m. at Gus Thornhill's Chapel in East Point. A homegoing service is a celebration of life common in Black churches in the South, and it suggests a family and church community that gathered to mourn him.
Terry Wilcox'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.
Terry Wilcox is also a common name. Searches are dominated by other people, including a man of the same age arrested in Texas in 2012 on unrelated federal robbery charges, a business executive in Florida and many men named in obituaries elsewhere. None of those records concern the man who died in Atlanta in 2007.
The location recorded in the database places his death in northwest Atlanta near the Westside, a part of the city of older single-family streets and long-time residents. His death came on a Saturday in early August, when neighbors were likely to be home and may remember the police activity that followed.
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. A man of 48 was older than most victims of that era, and cases with few public details often faded from view quickly.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Terry Wilcox 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 Terry Wilcox on Ard Place or elsewhere in northwest Atlanta, or who saw him in the days before he died, 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.
