Missing woman's remains found in South Fulton one day after disappearance


A tragic end to the search for Brittney Wicklein.

What began as a missing person case is now a murder investigation. Detectives are working to find Wicklein's killer after her burned body was found in South Fulton.

The Atlanta Police Department investigated the initial missing person case.

According to the police report, 31-year-old Wicklein and another individual were walking along Joseph E. Boone Boulevard in northeast Atlanta at around 1 a.m. Thursday, when a man pulled up in a car and told Wicklein to get into the vehicle.

Wicklein got in the car, and that was the last time she was reportedly seen alive.  

The man who was walking with her when she was taken, and another individual told police that the kidnapper said Wicklein was "responsible for his mother's house being shot up" and demanded $50,000, and then later demanded a $100,000 ransom.

A family member contacted police about 12 hours after Wicklein was taken and APD's intelligence unit and the FBI were called in to assist investigators in the search for the missing woman.

South Fulton police tell FOX 5 Wicklein's burned body was found in the city of South Fulton along Jones Road off of Campbellton-Fairburn Road early Friday morning.

"We are working with APD now,  just trying to gather all the footage from the area we can get," South Fulton Police Captain Marcus Dennard said. "Go back and get some of the witnesses so we can get a complete story of how she wound up in the area and how she actually wound up in the city of South Fulton ."

Police are reviewing surveillance video that captured the victim getting into the vehicle the night of the incident as they work leads in the case.

There was a second burned body discovered in South Fulton last week. Police said that unidentified man was reported missing out of Atlanta.

Investigators say the cases are not linked.  

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