ALAN WATSON - 15 yo (2001) - Atlanta GA

A skull found last year in northwest Atlanta was that of a 15-year-old DeKalb County boy missing since 2001,
Atlanta police have confirmed.
Alan Watson's family reported him missing in August 2001. They told
WAGA-TV he disappeared on his way to the movies.
His skull, which had a bullet hole, was found on July 1, 2009, in the
2400 block of Abner Place.
"The case has been ruled a homicide and is now an ongoing
investigation," Atlanta police spokesman Officer Otis Redmond said.
The lead detective will pass out flyers Thursday in the area where
the skull was found, asking residents for help in the investigation.
Watson's case was dormant until WAGA-TV aired a report on the skull,
prompting Watson's family to call police. DNA tests last month confirmed
the match.

Atlanta- A Fulton County Grand Jury has indicted an Atlanta man for the shooting death of a 15-year old boy nine years ago. 35-year old Dion Renaldo Sims was formally charged Tuesday in a six-count indictment with Murder, Felony Murder (two counts), Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Possession of a Handgun During the Commission of a Crime and Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon for the death of Alan Watson.

The teenager was shot and killed in 2001 and his body discarded in a wooded area at the rear of Flipper Temple apartments on Abner Place in Atlanta. The murder went undetected and the teen was simply reported as “missing” after not returning to his Dekalb County home. A break in the case came last year when a surveyor discovered a skull in the woods where the body was buried. News reports of the skull with a distinctive crown on a front tooth prompted calls from the victim’s family who believed it could be their relative. Subsequent DNA testing revealed that the remains did in fact belong to 15-year old Alan Watson. After the positive match, the victim’s picture was shown on television and anonymous tips began pouring into police identifying Dion Sims as the shooter. Sims was arrested in May of 2010.

The case will now be assigned to a Fulton County Superior Court Judge and scheduled for trial. It is being prosecuted by the District Attorney’s Cold Case Unit.
http://www.atlantada.org/latestnews/pressreleases/072110.htm

A decade after a 15-year-old DeKalb County boy disappeared, a neighbor has been convicted of killing him.

Dion Renaldo Sims, 36, was found guilty Friday of killing Alan
Watson, a McNair High School student who was never seen again by his
family after he told his grandmother he was going to the movies.

In August 2001 Alan was shot and killed and his body was discarded in
a wooded area in northwest Atlanta, according to the office of Fulton
County District Attorney Paul Howard.
When the boy didn't return to his DeKalb County
home, his family reported him missing. The investigation went cold, but
a chance discovery by a surveyor in July 2009 reignited it.
In the woods behind the Flipper Temple apartments on Abner Place, the surveyor found a skull with a bullet hole in the forehead.
Investigators found skeletal remains nearby. News reports noted the
distinctive crown on a front tooth, which prompted calls to police by
Alan's family. Subsequent DNA testing revealed that the remains were
his.
After the positive match, the boy’s picture was shown on television,
and anonymous tips poured in. Police identified Sims as the shooter and
arrested him in May 2010.
Sims lived around the corner from Alan in the Gresham Park area of south DeKalb County -- several miles from the murder scene.
A Fulton County Superior Court jury found Sims, 36, guilty of murder,
felony murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and possession
of a handgun during a crime. Sims had a prior felony conviction, so the
jury also convicted him of firearm possession by a felon.
Judge Henry Newkirk then sentenced Sims to to life plus ten years in prison. Prosecutors did not disclose a motive in the case.
http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/murder-conviction-ends-decade-937837.html