Reginald Walter Angelin Jr., 31, known to family as "Lil Reggie," died in Atlanta at 1:10 a.m. on Thursday, May 1, 2008, according to his obituary. The Atlanta Police Department Homicide Unit 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.
The time of death recorded in his obituary means he died in the first hour of the day, in the middle of the night.
Beyond that, the circumstances have not been made public. No news story about the killing could be found, and the record does not say how he was killed, where exactly it happened, whether he knew his attacker or whether anyone else was hurt.
There is no public sign that investigators ever named a suspect or released a description of anyone involved. No reward offer could be found.
Reginald Angelin Jr. was a New Orleans native who had made his home in Atlanta. A death notice in the Atlanta paper described him as "of Atlanta formerly of New Orleans." His family placed a fuller obituary in The Times-Picayune, which listed him as a father and set his funeral for Saturday, May 10, 2008, at 10 a.m., with Pastor Alfredia Lawson officiating. His loved ones in both cities have never seen anyone answer for his death.
The location recorded in the Post's database places his death in west Atlanta, on the city's Westside several miles from downtown. People who were out in that area in the early morning hours of May 1, 2008, may have heard or seen something.
Reginald Angelin Jr.'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. Being on that list means that, a decade after the killing, the case was still counted among those no one had been arrested for.
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 that period never led to an arrest, and the Post's 2018 investigation counted Atlanta among the cities with large numbers of unsolved homicides. Many of those killed were young men like him, and many of the cases went cold.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Reginald Angelin Jr. could be found in news archives or public records. More than 18 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was with Reginald Angelin Jr. on the night of April 30, 2008, or who knew him in Atlanta or back home in New Orleans and heard talk of what happened, 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.
