Behind the Investigation with Atlanta News First

Alexis Jones’ water bill is astronomical, and she can’t afford to pay it.  She rents the house she lives in with her sister and two kids, and they’ve been without water since DeKalb County shut it off in November for nonpayment. Jones and her family didn’t use the water; rather, it was a ghost leak in the front yard that wouldn’t be fixed for nearly two and a half years. DeKalb County records show...

Atlanta News First Investigates reviewed reports for people taking Ozempic, Wegovy or compounded semaglutide. There were 262 self-reported cases mentioning suicide attempts, ideation, threats, behavior, treatment; or depression. Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/03/11/fda-evaluating-miracle-weight-loss-drugs-like-ozempic-suicide-risk/

 A metro Atlanta mother who was seemingly targeted in a drug case as part of an effort to be denied custody of her daughter has now been granted full temporary custody. On Friday, a Spalding County Superior Court granted an emergency motion for full custody filed by Macy Jones, who was the target of an anonymous tip that led to the investigation. Judge Ben Coker granted Jones “sole custody on a te...

Guardrails are intended to keep drivers safe in case of an accident and to prevent vehicles from oncoming traffic or hitting something. But when the barriers are damaged or defective, they can’t protect drivers. Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/03/07/unguarded-gdots-failure-repair-road-safety-barriers-put-lives-risk/

Although he’s retired, Robert Elder feels like he’s taken on a new job: fighting for his home in which he’s invested more than 50 years of equity. In a lawsuit, Elder, 85, claims his southwest Atlanta home has been stolen from him by a stepson from his first marriage, Torrey Elder. Last year a new deed was filed on Robert Elder’s house; not once but, according to records, three times. The first wa...

A joint investigation by Atlanta News First and Grist uncovered dozens of people who worked at a metro Atlanta warehouse who claimed in a lawsuit their former employer exposed them to a cancer-causing toxin for years. Many of the former workers now suffer from severe illness. At least four have died. The warehouse is located in Lithia Springs, Georgia. It’s owned by the ConMed Corporation , which...

How could a safety requirement end up killing more children than it would save? The answer to that question has allowed parents to carry babies and toddlers on their laps at 35,000 feet and more than 500 miles per hour for decades. There is also no airfare cost for a lap baby. Since 1995, the Federal Aviation Administration has relied on multiple studies showing a safety-restraint requirement for...

New details have surfaced involving a case about a Georgia woman accused of marrying a man after he was found mentally incompetent. Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/02/21/starved-man-returned-family-wake-marriage-fraud-claims/

A metro Atlanta mother is now seeking full custody after Atlanta News First Investigates tells her of an attempt to have her arrested a year earlier. But where did the anonymous tip come from? Here is the full audio of a police major interviewing his lieutenant about the anonymous tip's source.

 Brenda Booth was still mourning the loss of her beloved sister, Claudia Marie, when she found out her sister had transferred her home’s deed to a private company on April 26, 2022. “Uh, she can’t sign a deed three months after she died,” Booth recalled. Families such as Booth’s say metro Atlanta law police are not criminally pursuing cases of stolen homes, which is all part of a troubling trend o...

A nationwide shortage of ADHD medication has been limiting the supply of Adderall for almost a year and a half. While the shortage’s primary culprit was believed to be supply chain issues, a new study is revealing another cause: an increase in diagnoses among adult women; in fact, the number of women being diagnosed with ADHD has nearly doubled in the last few years. That’s according to a new stud...

Water beads are often sold as toys, in craft kits, or as sensory tools for children with developmental disabilities. But the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission said children who have swallowed water beads can suffer suffer severe consequences, including internal injuries, lifelong health impacts and death. Some of the cases of children ingesting water beads in metro Atlanta have required med...

Thousands of electric vehicle drivers and their passengers may not be protected if involved in a crash with barriers meant to keep them alive. Newly released crash tests reveal guardrails failed involving two popular models on the road today: the Tesla Model 3 sedan and the Rivian R1T pickup . The video, obtained exclusively by Atlanta News First Investigates , shows when the Tesla hit a guardrail...

Keeping kindergarteners focused in the classroom is never easy, but Larkin Davidson struggles more than most. The seven-year-old suffers from multiple learning disabilities and mental health challenges. “He says, ‘I’m not smart. I wish I could talk right. My mouth doesn’t work right,’” said Melanie Starrett, his mother. “It breaks my heart that he’s been made to feel that way.” Starrett said Larki...

Last week, a Marietta couple discovered their complex’s mandated policy did not cover their contents when a pipe in the above unit burst and flooded their apartment. The renter’s liability-only policy they purchased did not cover damage to their contents and additional expenses for hotel, food, and boarding for their dog. “Our throw pillows, our throw blankets, were completely damaged,” said Madis...

 Last October, Dr. Lynne Damali, a Forest Park, Georgia, chiropractor, traded in two cars for a new Jeep Grand Wagoneer. The Wagoneer gave her family everything the other cars didn’t: space, luxury, and power, but Damali didn’t anticipate what happened over the next two months. “They have bounced eight checks,” Damali said, referring to the dealership’s payoffs on her two trade-ins that were sent...

Deed theft, wrongful foreclosures, fraudulent loans are all ingredients for real estate fraud. Metro Atlanta families are coming home to notices saying their homes are no longer theirs, and arguing their properties were wrongfully sold without their knowledge. Read the full story here: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/01/16/is-it-hard-steal-your-home-georgia-experts-say-no/

Black men jailed, wrongfully accused, and arrested. One technology at the center of it all.  Police use facial recognition to link people to crimes they did not commit. Atlanta News First exposes cases from Atlanta, Balitmore, New York, to Louisiana.  A common denominator is that law enforcement agencies are not following policy because the policy does not exist.  Randall Reid was arrested in Atla...

The Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to an attorney if you’re accused of a crime and a speedy trial. But Georgia and the nation are experiencing a shortage of public defenders and a backlog of cases creating a crisis. Atlanta News First Investigates’ Emmy award-winning series, The Sixth, sheds light on its impact on the criminal justice system, people accused of crimes...

Police use facial recognition to link people to crimes they did not commit. Atlanta News First exposes case from Atlanta, Balitmore, New York, to Louisiana.  A common denominator is that law enforcement agencies are not following policy because the policy does not exist. Randall Reid was arrested in Atlanta for a robbery which occurred in a city he never visited. Before his case, it happened to tw...

Three scientists are calling for more testing of a dangerous toxin impacting residents who live in the Rome, Georgia, area. It’s in response to an Atlanta News First investigation that uncovered elevated levels of the chemical compound in some residents’ blood. For decades, the Oostanaula River that supplied Rome’s drinking water was contaminated with perfluoroalkyl (PFAS) . The chemical group is...

Plainclothes drug agents search innocent passengers at airport gates across the United States, looking for cash. The drug agents seize anything over $5,000 if the passenger can’t prove — on the spot — that their own money didn’t come from drug trafficking. The government seizes the cash when no drugs are found, without arresting the traveler or charging them with a crime. The DEA gets to keep the...

27-year-old Mariam Abdulrab was abducted from her boyfriend's driveway in 2021 and later shot and killed. Police soon arrested DeMarcus Brinkley, a repeat sex offender in Georgia with a long rap sheet, including child molestation. As a repeat offender, Brinkley should have been fitted with an ankle monitor. But a loophole in Georgia law allowed him to slip through the tracks, a loophole that...

Harry Samler, better known by his 'Better Call Harry' fame, has been solving problems on Atlanta's streets for almost two decades. In this special edition of Behind the Investigation With Atlanta News First, Harry looks back at some of his 2023 top headlines, including stories on predatory towing, a MARTA bus crash, and Buckhead's tunnel of darkness on Georgia 400.

Behind the Investigation from Atlanta News First has taken listeners behind the scenes from our most informative, hard-hitting stories. In this special edition of our podcast, our award-winning team of investigative journalists recount 2023's top stories, including phantom cars, shed living, kicked out, and false recognition.