Tosher McZeal was 29 years old when she was killed in Atlanta on Sunday, February 1, 2009. The Atlanta Police Department investigated her 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.
A short death notice published in the Atlanta area gives a little more.
It names her as Tosher Renna McZeal, 29, of Peachtree City, in Fayette County south of Atlanta, and says she "died Sunday," which matches the date in the Post's record. The notice said a memorial service would be held on a Saturday in Louisiana, suggesting family ties there. It does not say how she died, and no news story about her death could be found.
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say how she was killed, exactly where it happened, whether she knew the person responsible, or whether she died at the scene or later at a hospital. It does not say whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
Tosher McZeal'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 the case was still counted, years later, among those for which no one had been arrested.
Her case has not completely vanished from view. CrimeTea, an online cold-case listing, still carries her death as an active, unsolved murder in Atlanta, and a crime-mapping site lists her among the area's cold cases, recording her age as 29 and the investigating agency as the Atlanta Police Department. Her age and sex also stand out: most homicide victims in Atlanta in those years were men, and a 29-year-old woman with family in two states would likely have had people who noticed quickly when something was wrong.
The location recorded in the Post's database places her death in the west side of Atlanta, a short distance west of downtown. People who lived or worked in that area in February 2009 may remember Tosher McZeal, and may remember the police activity that followed her death. Because she lived in Peachtree City, someone may also know why she was in the city that weekend and whom she planned to see.
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 her, often faded from view quickly.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Tosher McZeal could be found in news archives or public records. More than 17 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who knew Tosher McZeal in Peachtree City, in Atlanta or in Louisiana, and who saw or spoke with her in the days before she 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.
