Behind the Investigation with Atlanta News First

Businesses and insurance experts argue state law is driving businesses out of high-crime areas and Georgia altogether, as well as making insurance coverage more expensive, if it can be obtained at all. 

Two drug testing labs contracted by the state of Georgia to conduct drug tests are under fire for allegedly returning false positive reports. 

 The state’s highest court will soon decide whether a man convicted of killing his infant son more than 20 years ago will get a new trial.

The case involves the controversial medical diagnosis, shaken baby syndrome. In 2003, a Gwinnett County jury convicted Danyel Smith of murdering his two-month-old son, Chandler. The state’s medical examiner ruled the boy’s death a homicide, caused by blunt force trauma. Prosecutors told the jury it was a “shaken baby” case.

In April 2024, Smith pleaded with Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Ronnie Batchelor to grant him a new trial following nearly two weeks of testimony from medical experts who testified the child’s death points to biological issues.

“I asked myself if I could live with that decision for the rest of my life and the answer is no,” Smith told the court. “Only a guilty man would plead out.

“Not every tragedy is a crime,” Smith said. “I’m not a murderer. I did not kill my son."

Read the full story here:  https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2025/01/16/georgias-highest-court-hear-case-dad-convicted-killing-infant-son/

Loris Sinanian is a deacon at St. Francis of Assisi’s in north Georgia’s town of Blairsville. At age 93, he still leads mass, but these days, he needs his faith more than ever.

A few months ago, Sinanian lost his wife, Peggy. Just before that, he lost his life savings to an internet scam.

“Somehow, they got into my computer,” Sinanian said. “When they got into my computer, they also got into my bank account.”

In October 2023, Sinanian said he he received a call from a man who claimed to be “an old friend.” The caller said he owed $100 and wanted to deposit the money into Sinanian’s bank account.

Sinanian went to his bank’s website online but did not realize he gave the scammer remote access to his computer. That’s when the scammer duplicated the website and made it appear as though he accidentally deposited $100,000 into Sinanian’s account, instead of $100.

Read Better Call Harry's full reports here:
https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2025/01/07/scammers-rob-blairsville-church-deacon-life-savings/
and here:
https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2025/01/14/elderly-scam-victims-face-limited-protection-banks/

 When Patricia Miele’s family moved her into Greenwood Place Assisted Living and Memory Care in Marietta this past October, they trusted the 89-year-old was in good hands, adding the facility came highly recommended.

Miele moved from Connecticut to Georgia years ago to be closer to her family and two grandchildren. The former schoolteacher and devout Catholic lived by her routines, which involved prayer and meals. She didn’t even have a television in her room.

“Pat was a voracious reader and had a deep faith and understanding of her place in the world,” said son-in-law Garrett Phillips.

Miele’s daughter, Karen Phillips, said the facility should have known her mother’s mental health was on the decline. According to her, Miele once mistook a fire alarm for an elevator button while living at Greenwood Place. Then there was the time when she accidentally locked herself in her room.

Karen Phillips also remembers a nurse called to share her mother repeatedly expressed fear of getting lost. “She didn’t know where she was going and needed help,” she said. They knew that.”

Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2025/01/08/dont-lose-our-mother-i-family-missing-woman-found-dead-speak-out/

A rural county south of Atlanta has become a target for scammers trying to make tens of thousands of dollars off people’s vacant property through local real estate agents.

Atlanta News First Investigates discovered a growing issue of sham sellers near Barnesville, where a significant amount of growth is taking place. Real estate agents say the scammers are all impersonating property owners who live out of state. 
READ MORE: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/12/19/scammers-target-rural-georgia-county-with-property-fraud/

While metro Atlanta didn’t see widespread damage from Hurricane Helene, some Woodstock, homeowners filed insurance claims for significant wind damage. But not everyone’s insurance is paying for new roofs.

More than a dozen homeowners in the Oakhurst neighborhood filed claims for roof damage with a very specific type of construction shingle that roofers say cannot be “fixed” without a full replacement. 
READ MORE: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/12/12/metro-homeowners-battle-insurance-roof-replacements-after-helene-damage/

A Clayton County hospital is accused in a lawsuit of putting vulnerable patients at risk. Darryl Lynn Fussell II was having a mental health crisis and escaped the Southern Regional Medical Center, even though he was on an involuntary 1013 hold. Our Atlanta News First investigation found 44 patients have been reported missing from the location in the last three years.  
 Read the full investigation here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/12/18/dozens-patients-reported-missing-this-metro-atlanta-hospital/

Jamming and spoofing of navigation and timing signals threaten the American economy, according to experts. Developed half a century ago for the military, GPS is now used daily by more than seven billion devices worldwide. It’s inside your phone; inside your car; and in the cockpit of every airliner. 

Drug agents are no longer allowed to seize cash from innocent passengers at US airports as a direct result of this two-year investigation by Atlanta News First Investigates.

The Department of Justice ordered the Drug Enforcement Administration to suspend its ‘cold consent encounters’ at departure gates nationwide because of a single video that would never have been recorded had a traveler not watched the 2023 ‘In Plane Sight’ investigation.

That innocent passenger followed the legal advice reported in our original series: asking if he was free to go, denying the DEA consent to search his bag, and recording the encounter. His video of the agent seizing his bag without a warrant led to a Senate inquiry, and the DOJ Inspector General launching a formal investigation.

The investigation revealed airline employees secretly received kickbacks from the DEA — percentages of any money seized from passengers who were never charged with crimes.

The US Deputy Attorney General responded by immediately issuing a directive to the DEA, shutting down the entire program. 

 Read the full series here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/page/in-plane-sight/