Georgia authorities search for clues in 2 teens’ deaths

ATLANTA — Detectives on Tuesday were combing through video from multiple cameras and hoping to hear from any possible witnesses near a suburban Atlanta grocery store in the pre-dawn hours before a teenage boy and girl were both found slain, authorities said.

The bodies of Natalie Henderson and Carter Davis, both 17, were discovered by a delivery driver behind the Publix supermarket shortly before 6 a.m. Monday, Roswell police said. The bodies were laying on the ground by two vehicles, according to a police reported released Tuesday.

“Early indications are that they were killed there. We don’t really have reason to believe they were killed elsewhere,” Roswell police Det. Zachary Frommer said in an interview Tuesday.

Autopsies were underway Tuesday to determine the cause of their deaths.

Police have said they died of severe head trauma, which could include stabbing, shooting or some other type of trauma, Frommer said.

The initial police report from the first responding officer indicated both teens were shot. That was the initial assessment of the officer, but detectives wouldn’t confirm that the gunshots killed them, Frommer said Tuesday afternoon.

Police have not commented on possible motives for the killings, but “we don’t have anything to indicate that drugs were involved right now,” Frommer said.

Police are asking anyone who may have been in the area from about 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. Monday to contact them.

The Publix and its surrounding shopping center are in a commercial area that sees heavy traffic during the day, but is relatively quiet at night. A nearby Steak ‘n Shake restaurant is open 24 hours, but most other businesses in the immediate area are not open during the late-night and early morning hours, police said.

“There are a lot of cameras, so we’ve been able to take advantage of several different angles,” Frommer said.

The shopping center is about 25 miles north of downtown Atlanta, in the northwest part of Roswell.

Both teenagers were about to start their senior year of high school. Henderson would have been a senior at Roswell High School, just across the street from the shopping center where the bodies were found, police said. Davis would have been a senior at River Ridge High School in nearby Cherokee County, police said.

Henderson was a member of Roswell High’s color guard and Carter played football and lacrosse at River Ridge, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.