Girlfriend charged with murder, identity theft 18 years after woman’s body was found missing hands, feet, and head

By Makayla Richards, Alvieann Chandler

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    FULTON COUNTY, Georgia (WXIA) — A woman once suspected but never charged is now facing a murder count, 18 years after her girlfriend’s body was found in a burning bag on a quiet roadside in Troup County.

Sources tell 11Alive that Angel M. Thompson has been charged with murder in connection with Nicole Alston’s death. Thompson was booked in Fulton County Jail on Monday. Jail records show her murder warrant is dated Dec. 6, 2007, the same day Alston’s remains were discovered.

In a press conference Wednesday, DA Fani Willis called the case one of the the most gruesome she’s ever seen.

“She didn’t deserve this,” Alston’s mother said at the press conference. She described Alston as bubbly, the life of the party, artistic and trusting — that last trait being what Thompson is accused of preying on and exploiting.

The case had previously gone cold for over 15 years. It reopened in 2023, when advanced DNA testing confirmed the remains belonged to Alston, a 24-year-old woman from Manhattan, New York, who had recently moved to Atlanta. At the time, Thompson was charged with concealing Alston’s death and committing years of identity fraud in her name.

According to Willis and investigators who spoke Wednesday, Alston and Thompson were in a romantic relationship when they traveled to Georgia — with the district attorney describing it as becoming abusive and exploitative. Thompson was referred to as a “trafficker” who, on the day Alston’s body was found, was allegedly already on dating sites looking for new women.

DA Willis is hoping that new attention on the case will lead to the discovery of other victims that Thompson may have been in contact with after Alston’s death. She added that she intends to indict the case carefully, with an indictment expected possibly in October.

According to previous 11Alive reporting, Thompson allegedly assumed Alston’s identity shortly after the killing, collecting more than $200,000 in government benefits and using her name to secure housing and services until 2015.

One detective said he had never seen something as “calculated and meticulous” as Thompson’s yearslong assumption of Alston’s identity. Prosecutors said when Alston needed a renewed license in 2010, Thompson did the renewal and even changed the photo from Alston’s to her own.

Records show the murder warrant was executed just before Thompson’s booking.

Nicole Alston’s remains were first discovered on Dec. 6, 2007, inside a burning black bag dumped near Whitfield Road and Stitcher Road in Troup County. Her hands, feet, and head were missing.

Despite multiple efforts, the remains went unidentified until December 2023, when DNA testing and forensic genealogy confirmed the victim’s identity.

Thompson’s murder charge marks the first major development in the case since then.

If anyone has any information about either the suspect or the victim, please contact Deputy District Attorney Will Wooten at Will.Wooten@fultoncountyga.gov or (404) 612-6560.

Authorities are hoping to find additional victims Thompson may have exploited, and said she and Alston lived at what was then the Genesis Apartments at 9100 Cascade-Palmetto Hwy. The complex is now known as the Palmetto Preserve.

A 2007 photo of Thompson was provided.

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