Angel Marie Thompson has been charged in connection to the cold case murder of her friend Nicole Alston, whose remains were discovered during an investigation of a burning bag found on the side of the road in 2007.
Thompson was arrested on Aug. 19, according to a statement from the Troup County (GA) Sheriff’s Office, and charged with concealing the 24-year-old’s death.
Officials haven’t identified a suspect responsible for Alston’s murder, but say that “Thompson began
identifying herself as Alston and was collecting Alston’s SSI [Social Security] Benefits, Food Stamp Allotment, [and] acquiring Section 8 Housing, all as Nicole Alston for a period of 8 years.”Alston’s body was discovered by county authorities in 2007, who were called to a scene to investigate a suspicious black bag smoldering near Whitfield Road and Stitcher Road.
Alston was identified as the murder victim following DNA testing in 2023 of the partial human remains that were
found inside the bag with the “hands, feet and head” missing. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab compared results from the DNA analysis of Innovative Forensic Investigations in Emporia, Virginia, and testing from Gene by Gene Laboratories in Houston.“On December 13, 2023, our office received word that a positive DNA match was made, and the identity was that of Nicole Alston, whose last known residence was Manhattan, New York, and she was 24 years of age at that time.”
As officials continued to investigate the murder, Alston’s family confirmed they lost contact with her around Thanksgiving of 2007 after she and Thompson moved from Manhattan to Atlanta.
11Alive reported that the friends moved from New York in July 2006.
“At that time, Thompson was wanted in New York for theft and identity fraud,” the sheriff’s office stated. In 2015, the Social Security Administration tried to contact Alston to requalify her benefits. Additional agencies in Georgia are investigating Thompson’s alleged collection of around $200,000 posing as Alston.
The investigation of Alston’s murder is ongoing.
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