Last month the Cobb District Attorney’s Office said it had solved a 51-year-old murder case involving a Marietta girl, Debbie Lynn Randall, whose body was found in January 1972 off Powers Ferry Road, several weeks after she had gone missing.
The DA’s office used advanced technology to conclude that the man who abducted, raped and strangled her was William Rose, then 24, and who committed suicide two years later.
The advocacy group Girls Inc. of Greater Atlanta, which was formed in the wake of that tragedy, will be dedicating a memorial butterfly garden on Thursday in honor of Randall at its Marietta headquarters.
The ribbon-cutting is Thursday at 10:30 a.m. at 461 Manget Street, and you’re asked to RSVP by e-mailing scade@girlsincatl.org if you wish to attend.
“In 1972, the tragic loss of Debbie Lynn Randall, shook our community to its core,” Girls Inc. of Greater Atlanta CEO Tiffany Collie-Bailey said in a message that went out Monday. “We saw then firsthand the risks and devastation that exist wherever girls are left unprotected.
“This horrific story and many other stories like it are the reasons that Girls Inc of Greater Atlanta (GIGA) and 76 other affiliates across the nation exist. Three weeks ago, because people never forgot Debbie or the trauma of her family, her case was finally solved.”
What eventually became the Girls Inc. of Greater Atlanta was started in 1974 by Marietta residents Irma Glover and Joyce Dunaway Parker, who appealed to the Marietta City Council to provide a safe space for girls in the form of the Marietta-Cobb Girls Club.
Cobb commissioners helped the organized acquire land near Larry Bell Park to establish not only an “organization, but to an entire mission of providing a safe space for all girls.
“We as an organization, and our founder Ms. Dunaway-Parker are fortunate to be able to witness the solving of her tragic murder 51 years later, although bittersweet,” Collie-Bailey said.
“We would like to take time to honor this long-awaited occasion by not only remembering and mourning the life of Debbie Lynn Randall, but also by acknowledging the continued need to keep girls safe physically, mentally, and emotionally.”
et Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
