Missing Hartsfield-Jackson worker found in river didn't drown, lead investigator says

NEWTON COUNTY, Ga. — It’s been three-and-a-half months since the body of Shanequa Sullivan, an airport worker with autism, turned up in the Yellow River.

Investigators said they still haven’t identified a single suspect, but they’re determined not to let this case run cold - and they think phone records could be the key to solving who killed her.

“This is probably one of the toughest that we’ve ever had because of the lack of information that we got,” Investigator Jeff Alexander said.

He’s the lead investigator on the case for the Newton County Sheriff’s Office – and he works this case every day.

► 'She said we found her in the Yellow River': A grandmother grieves after a tragic call

“It becomes part of your life,” he said. “We get calls every day, all day all hours of the night,” he said. “I’ve gotten a call from Birmingham, England - probably every state in the country.”

But every single tip has been a dead end.

Shanequa went missing Feb. 4. Video shows her last known steps - trying to get home from her job at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. A boater found her body in the river a month later.

“She was dead before she was put in the river, because, you know, there was no evidence that she had drowned,” Alexander said.

But where she was found is thick with brush and almost an hour away from her job - a very bizarre place to end up.

“You don’t want to say somebody had to know of that area, but we are almost to that point somebody actually had to know where that area was,” Alexander said.

He said absolutely nothing is off the table.

PHOTOS | Shanequa Quanee Sullivan

Now, they’re trying a new strategy to break the case. They’ve sent out warrants and subpoenas for Shanequa’s phone records.

“Getting tower dumps – all kinds of stuff,” Alexander said.

He hopes they’ll be able to find a lead among all the data.

“You know, matching numbers that were at the airport and the river where we found the body,” he said.

They’re starting behind, because most of the surveillance video from the airport showing her last movements was automatically deleted from the system before it was collected. Atlanta Police said that’s their fault.

► Video shows last known moments of woman whose body was found in Yellow River

Alexander talks to Shanequa’s family multiple times a week and says he’s determined to solve this case.

“You can’t do this type of work and work these type of cases and not take it personally,” he said. “I don’t want to let this go.”