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| Source: GBI |
The night of August 11th, 2009, began as a typical night for Kristi Cornwell. The 38-year-old woman was in Blairsville, Georgia. She was taking an evening walk shortly after 9:00 PM near her parent's house on Jones Creek Road while talking on the phone with her boyfriend, Douglas Davis. Neither Kristi nor Davis could have ever imagined that this conversation would be their last.
At some point during her walk, Kristi told Davis that a vehicle appeared to be approaching her. Moments later, Davis heard sounds of a struggle accompanied by Kristi shouting "don't take me!" The phone call disconnected shortly thereafter. Kristi was never seen alive by her loved ones again.
Davis reported what he heard to police, and a search for Kristi was immediately launched. A few days into the investigation, her cell phone was found approximately three miles away from the area where police believe Kristi was abducted. The professional search continued for over two weeks, but no further trace of Kristi was found.
Meanwhile, both Union County detectives and Kristi's loved ones tried to contemplate a motive for her kidnapping. In the weeks that followed her disappearance, Kristi's brother Richard Cornwell told "Good Morning America" that "investigators were unsure whether his sister's abduction was random or if she was targeted, possibly in relation to her job as a former probation officer."
Cornwell never gave up on looking for his sister. He stayed in touch with detectives from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and completed his own searches for Kristi. In fact, on January 1st, 2011, Cornwell received information from the GBI that led him to search a 2-square-mile area in the woods near Moccasin Road in Union County. It was during the search that Cornwell uncovered human remains. Dental records later confirmed that Richard Cornwell had found the remains of his sister Kristi Cornwell.
Kristi's body had been badly burned and decomposed. An autopsy was unable to determine her exact cause of death. However, detectives immediately began to investigate her death as a murder.
During the seventeen months that Kristi was missing, detectives had received and uncovered a lot of interesting information pertaining to her case - including a vehicle description and a sketch of a potential person of interest, an anonymous letter from a grandmother, and a police standoff that led to the death of a suspect.
Despite all of this, investigators have never been able to close Kristi's case. Both loved ones and detectives are left without one frustratingly unanswered question: Who killed Kristi Cornwell?
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A look back at the investigation.
In December 2009, police released a vehicle description and a sketch of a man who was involved in an assault on a woman that took place in Cherokee County, North Carolina. The woman reported that she was attacked by a man driving a late model Nissan Xterra. At that time, it was announced that investigators believed this same man/vehicle could be connected to Kristi's disappearance.
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| Source: GBI |
The anonymous letter.
During January 2010, both the Union County Sheriff's Office and the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office received an anonymous letter from a woman who stated that sketch resembled her then-27-year-old grandson. The woman wrote that, not only did her grandson drive a Nissan Xterra similar to the one described by investigators, but he also engaged in suspicious behavior around the time of Kristi's abduction.
The grandmother's letter explained that her grandson had left her home in Cherokee County on the evening of August 11th and did not return until the following morning. When he arrived back at his grandmother's residence, he reportedly had scratches on his face and neck. He told his grandmother he had gotten into a fight.
The grandmother further wrote that her grandson was also in the Cherokee County area during the December 2009 assault. This deepened the woman's suspicions about her grandson. She noted, "I want to give my grandson the benefit of doubt until proven otherwise. However, I will not turn a blind eye to my suspicions."
After receiving this letter, a public appeal was made for the grandmother to reveal her identity to investigators. An appeal was also made for anyone with information about the grandson or the vehicle to come forward.
Another suspect: James Carringer.
In April 2010, authorities in Gilmer County, Georgia received a warrant to arrest a 42-year-old man named James Carringer. The warrant was issued after Carringer reportedly abducted and raped a female Kennesaw State University student. It was also believed he tried to abduct a 10-year-old girl from an Easter egg hunt just days before police got the warrant for the rape case. When authorities went to arrest Carringer, he led them on a car chase.
Police eventually cornered Carringer in his vehicle between Deering Road and 26th Street, after which a standoff shut down the area for several hours. Carringer did not comply with police demands. The standoff ended with Carringer shooting himself inside his car. He was pronounced dead on the scene.
While investigating Carringer, the GBI uncovered information that prompted them to look at him as a potential suspect in the abduction of Kristi as well. It was learned that Carringer's residence was just a few miles away from the street from which Kristi vanished. Additionally, Carringer was originally from Ranger in Cherokee County - where the December 2009 assault occurred. On top of that, Carringer owned 2 Nissan Xterras.
Authorities executed warrants for Carringer's home and his two vehicles during April 2010. In August 2010, the GBI announced, "Nothing analyzed so far has connected Carringer to the Ranger case or to Kristi’s disappearance, but investigators are still pursuing this lead." At that time, Kristi Cornwell was still missing - making it even more difficult for prove that she had been harmed by Carringer.
January 2011: Kristi's body is found.
Kristi's brother Richard Cornwell remained in touch with the GBI throughout the entire time that Kristi was missing. Cornwell was dedicated to finding his sister, and the GBI would provide him with information about where to search for her based on leads they had received.
On New Year's Day in 2011, the GBI told Cornwell about the 2-mile radius in the woods near Moccasin Road that they planned to search after the holiday. Cornwell decided not to wait and went to search the area himself. It was during that search that he found the human remains that were later identified as that of his sister Kristi Cornwell.
While the discovery of Kristi's body brought closure to her loved ones, it also left them with grief and unanswered questions. Kristi's death is an inevitably devastating loss for her family. Her son was only 15 years-old at the time of her disappearance.
An unsolved case.
Over 15 years have passed since Kristi's murder, and it still remains unsolved. The GBI states that James Carringer still remains a prime suspect in the case, although they have never been able to find any definitive physical evidence linking him to Kristi's abduction and murder. Additionally, it is unknown if investigators have ever identified the grandson described in the anonymous letter.
Both investigators and Kristi's loved ones are hoping to receive leads that allow them to finally close her case. If you have any information that could help solve the murder of Kristi Cornwell, please contact the GBI at 1-800-597-TIPS (8477) or submit a tip online.
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Sources:
ABC News
The Atlanta Journal Courier, (2)
CBS News
Coastal Courier
Fox 5 Atlanta
Georgia Bureau of Investigation
WSBTV
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