🚨NO WHITE SUPREMACISTS INVOLVED🚨
I just found out about this horrific news. I'm sharing it with you to warn the ladies out there to be careful and to use the buddy system when going out on the town, or be on the phone with a friend or family member when walking to your car alone, or carry some kind of weapon with you when walking the streets alone. This male predator saw her as a potential victim, an easy target the minute she stumbled out of the club by herself. (emphasis mine)
Law&Crime Network published October 17, 2023: Man Allegedly Posed as Good Samaritan Before Brutally Murdering Beloved Vlogger.
A Georgia man is accused of murdering and raping beloved vlogger Mitchel Dang. The suspect — Ja’Keivious Arnold — allegedly posed as a Good Samaritan before brutally killing the 25-year-old when she was leaving a concert in August. The Law&Crime Network’s Elizabeth Millner breaks down the horrifying case.
11Alive published September 25, 2023: Woman attacked and killed by stranger after leaving music venue in Downtown Atlanta, her family says. 25-year-old Mitchel Dang's body was found across the street from the Fulton County Justice Center Building on Aug. 30 after leaving Alley Cat Atlanta on Aug. 26.
Law&Crime Network
written by Colin Kalmbacher
Friday October 13, 2023
A Georgia man appeared in court on Friday to face allegations before a judge that he is responsible for the death of a young woman whose body was found stashed in a parking garage across the street from the Fulton County Courthouse on a late August morning.
Ja’Keivious Arnold, 24, was formally charged with murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping, aggravated sexual battery, necrophilia, financial transaction theft, and robbery. He’s accused in the brutal killing of Mitchel Dang, 25.
A warrant was issued for his arrest on Sept. 19. He was arrested on the night of Sept. 22 in Chamblee – a medium-sized city in the northeastern Atlanta suburbs of DeKalb County.
About three weeks earlier, on Aug. 26, Mitchel Dang recorded her last vlog. She was dressed, dancing, happy, and, looking into the camera, made it known she was ready to dance some more with friends at a nightclub on Lower Alabama Street.
“She was really excited for the night,” her sister, Mary Dang, recalled in comments to Atlanta-based NBC affiliate WXIA.
In a press release, Atlanta police offered threadbare information on the grim discovery at the Fulton County Justice Center Building in downtown Atlanta. Details are similarly scant in the updated press release announcing Arnold’s arrest and connection to the crime.
Since the woman went missing, however, her loved ones have spoken out about her life and offered some details about the investigation into how it was cut short on the awful night in question.
In comments to WXIA, Mitchel Dang’s family said police told them the victim and her assailant did not know each other.
“She could be anybody, she could be anybody’s daughter, sister, walking the streets and it could just happen,” Mary Dang told WXIA.
But even the family was largely kept in the dark until the preliminary hearing.
“However it happened, it happened … we don’t know,” Mary Dang said in comments to local Fox affiliate WAGA. “[Police tell us] that she went to a music venue and on her way back to the car she was attacked by a stranger.”
Arrest warrants in the case obtained by WXIA allege that Arnold stole Mitchel Dang’s cellphone during the attack. He also held her against her will and killed her, according to the warrants.
During Friday’s hearing, Atlanta police Detective Jarion Shephard testified that Arnold “masqueraded as a good citizen” on the night Mitchel Dang died, offering to help her find her car before ultimately killing her.
“He insisted and persisted on helping her,” the investigator testified.
Police say surveillance footage shows the two walking around the parking garage where her body was found, nude and partially hidden under a stairwell in the basement.
“His words were as they got into the stairwell, she started scratching him,” Shephard testified. “He said he drug her down – drug her up under the stairwell, threw her on the ground [and] choked her until she passed out.”
After that, he allegedly admitted to sexually assaulting the victim. She woke up during the assault, the officer testified, and Arnold allegedly choked her again until she died, removed her clothes, and then sexually assaulted her corpse for “at least 20 minutes,” according to Shephard.
The defendant allegedly left a newspaper over the victim’s face as he left – returning once to retrieve his sunglasses and try to hide her body better, police allege. The detective said the defendant admitted to two additional sexual assaults under similar circumstances – women walking alone at night – in DeKalb County.
As the investigator relayed the brutal and sickening details, Mitchel Dang’s family broke into tears and sobbed in the courtroom.
Arnold was arrested at the DeKalb County Animal Services building where he worked as a temp.
A GoFundMe has been established to help the victim’s family with their loss.
“It hurts all of us that Mitchel is no longer here,” her cousin wrote. “She had such a kind personality and cared for everybody around her. She was loved by all, and she did not deserve such a cruel fate. To see how she was like, please take a look at her youtube channel.”
In late September, on what would have been Mitchel Dang’s birthday, her family erected a shrine that will stand for 49 days – in line with their Buddhist religion, WAGA reported.
“My parents came here from Vietnam after the war,” Mary Dang said through tears. “We didn’t have much, but we always had each other.”
The slain woman’s family said the parking garage where her body was found is not where her car was parked.
“Awful, she was just enjoying herself, the night, music… just enjoying it,” her father, Minh Dang, told WXIA. “At nighttime, we sleep together in the family room. We can’t separate out, we have to stay together to fill up the emptiness.”
In Mitchel Dang’s last video to the world, she described her outfit for the night of dancing as “casual and comfortable.” She was on her way to see DJs Victor Calderone and Giammarco Orsini.
“I’m just going to dance my heart away,” she said.
11Alive published September 26, 2023: Woman attacked and killed by stranger after leaving music venue in Downtown Atlanta, her family says. 25-year-old Mitchel Dang's body was found across the street from the Fulton County Justice Center Building on Aug. 30 after leaving Alley Cat Atlanta on Aug. 26.
11ALIVE.com
Woman attacked and killed by stranger after leaving music venue in Downtown Atlanta, her family says
written by Cody Alcorn
Monday September 25, 2023
ATLANTA — A night of house music and dancing turned into a horrific nightmare for a 25-year-old woman who found herself fighting for her life in Downtown Atlanta.
On Aug. 26, Mitchel Dang's family said she told them she was meeting up with friends at Alley Cat Atlanta off Lower Alabama Street. The venue describes itself as "Atlanta's home for house and techno music parties."
Mary Dang said her sister loved to dance.
"She was really excited for the night," Mary recalled.
On that Saturday night, Victor Calderone, a legendary NYC DJ and Grammy-winning producer was booked along with international performing artist Giammarco Orsini.
Mitchel recorded a video of her outfit for the night for her vlog. In the video, you hear her describing her outfit as "casual and comfortable."
"I'm just going to dance my heart away," she said in the video.
Little did Mitchel know, it would be her last dance.
After she didn't return home late Saturday night, her family started getting worried. However, at first, they didn't suspect the worst and wanted to give Mitchel some space. While she did live at home with her two sisters and parents, she was still 25 years old.
It wouldn't be until the beginning of the week – when her family couldn't reach her and Mitchel didn't return home they contacted Atlanta Police.
On Wednesday, Aug. 30, four days after vanishing, officers were dispatched to a "person down" call at 75 Martin Luther King Dr., which is across the street from the Fulton County Justice Center Building in downtown.
This is near the area of Alley Cat where Mitchel was last known to be the Saturday prior. It would turn out, that the "person down" inside the parking garage would in fact be Mitchel Dang.
No longer a missing person, but now the victim of a homicide.
"Awful, she was just enjoying herself, the night, music… just enjoying it," her father Minh Dang said.
While APD has been tight-lipped on the investigation, her family said the detective told them it was a stranger on stranger crime. The family also said the garage where Mitchel's body was found was not where her car was parked.
"She did not deserve something like this," her father said.
Her sister pointed out that this could have been anyone leaving that venue.
"She could be anybody, she could be anybody's daughter, sister, walking the streets and it could just happen," Mary explained.
On Friday, Sept. 22, three weeks after Mitchel's body was found, APD announced the arrest of 24-year-old Ja’Keivious Arnold.
He was arrested with the help of Chamblee Police inside the DeKalb County Animal Services building on Chamblee Dunwoody Road. While it's unclear if Arnold is an employee at the facility, in the body camera footage obtained by 11Alive from Chamblee Police, an officer is heard stating Arnold's girlfriend is an employee.
In the video, you see Arnold on the ground, inside a back area of the facility with a number of staff members looking on as several officers responded to assist in arresting the wanted fugitive. He was escorted out and then brought back to the Fulton County Jail where his bond has since been denied.
In a statement to 11Alive, LifeLine Animal Project stated "Mr. Arnold was assigned to work for DCAS about two months ago through a temp agency. He was arrested while at work without incident. No further information is available at this time."
While the arrest is some good news for the Dang family, they are still broken.
"At nighttime, we sleep together in the family room. We can't separate out, we have to stay together to fill up the emptiness," her father said.
Mitchel's youngest sister, Maggie Dang, said she misses the advice, especially when it comes to boys.
"She really was just like that big sister for me, just a great role model," Maggie said.
Mary said the hardest thing for the entire family is knowing they will never see Mitchel's smile or hear her voice again.
"We just miss her walking through the door," she explained.
On Tuesday morning, 11Alive obtained the arrest warrants issued by a judge for Ja’Keivious Arnold in Mitchel's homicide. On the Robbery charge, the warrant states Arnold stole Mitchel’s cell phone at some point during or after the attack.
On the Kidnapping charge, the warrant states that Arnold abducted Mitchel and held her against her will which resulted in her death. On the Felony Murder charge, while typically warrants give some detail on how the suspect caused the victim’s death, in this case it just states Arnold, “knowingly and intentionally caused the death of Mitchel Dang” by ‘an act and actions of homicidal violence that created the circumstances that led to her death.
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