Antonio Kelley was 32 years old when he was killed in Atlanta on Saturday, May 9, 2009. 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.
Records from the days after his death give a small picture of his life.
An obituary index for The Atlanta Constitution lists an obituary for Antonio Kelley published on Thursday, May 14, 2009, five days after his death, giving a residence in Riverdale, in Clayton County just south of the city, and naming two children and a sibling among his possible relatives. An online memorial for an Antonio Kelley of the East Point area, published in 2009, drew condolences from people who knew him. "He was truly a remarkable person," one person wrote to the family. "May the Lord continue to strengthen you."
Because so little has been released, even the basic circumstances remain unknown to the public. The record does not say how he was killed, exactly where it happened, whether he knew the person responsible, or whether he died at the scene or later at a hospital. It does not say whether investigators ever identified a suspect.
Antonio Kelley'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.
He was killed on a Saturday in early May, the day before Mother's Day. People in Riverdale and East Point, as well as in Atlanta, may have known his routines and the people around him.
Antonio Kelley is also a common name. Searches for it are dominated by other people who share it, which makes it harder to find any trace of the man who died in Atlanta and may help explain why his story has been so hard to follow. A different Antonio Kelley, born in Atlanta but living in Michigan, died in 2016 and is not connected to this case.
The location recorded in the Post's database places his death in south Atlanta, south of downtown. People who lived or worked in that area in May 2009 may remember Antonio Kelley, and may remember the police activity that followed his death.
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 Antonio Kelley 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 Antonio Kelley in Riverdale, East Point or Atlanta, and 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.
