FBI Joins Investigation Into Killing of Katherine Janness, Her Dog in Atlanta Park

The Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI] is joining Atlanta police in an investigation into the killing of Katherine Janness, 40, and her dog in the city's Piedmont Park, the Associated Press reported.

Janness was found stabbed to death with multiple wounds in the park around 1 a.m. Wednesday after walking her dog who was also killed. Atlanta police did not say how the dog died, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, but Deputy Chief Charles Hampton called the scene "gruesome." FBI spokesperson Kevin Rowson said Thursday the agency is on the case.

"Katie was the most down to earth, beautiful spirit that you would ever meet," Chip Powell, who used to work with Janness when she worked as a bar manager at an improv theater, told WXIA-TV. "So many people in the community knew and loved her."

Janness was a bartender at a restaurant near Piedmont Park, according to her friends and family. A $10,000 reward is being offered by investigators for information related to her stabbing.

For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below:

Investigators sought video from homes and businesses near the popular Piedmont Park as divers searched a pond in their quest to solve the stabbing death of Janness.

No arrests have been made.

Investigators have gone door-to-door asking neighbors for surveillance footage, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The aim is to help them retrace Janness' steps and glean any clues they can from the video.

Divers also spent much of Wednesday searching a pond in the park, news outlets reported.

Police on Wednesday released a photo of Janness crossing a rainbow-painted Pride crosswalk near the park in the city's Midtown neighborhood.

Powell said he had worked with Janness for eight years.

Janness and her girlfriend, Emma Clark, had been together for about seven years and considered themselves married, said Clark's father, Joe Clark.

"They would've been together forever," Joe Clark told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "They were that couple."

Janness was an avid reader who collected books, he told the newspaper. She had also taught herself to play guitar and sang songs that she'd written, he said.

Mourners on Wednesday left flowers, as well as dog treats, near the park entrance where her body was found.

Hampton said it's too early to determine a motive for the killing.