Kay Wenal was brutally murdered in her Georgia home 16 years ago and despite multiple probes by police and private investigators, her case remains unsolved.
Kay, 60, was found dead on May 1, 2008 in the kitchen of the rented home she shared with her husband Harold ‘Hal’ Wenal, a prominent real estate developer, in suburban Atlanta.
The model had been punched in the face and chased through her kitchen, before being slashed in the throat twice with an ‘extremely sharp’ instrument, such as a ‘scalpel’, detectives have said.
Crime scene investigators found little to no evidence at the home even though there had been a ‘lot of blood’ shed at the scene. No fingerprints, footprints, defensive wounds, hairs or fibers were found at the property and all of the blood tested had belong to Kay, CBS News reported.
A note written using cut-out letters from magazines was mailed to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Norcross office in the months after she was found dead. The letter was turned over to police and examined by the crime lab, but no DNA or forensics were discovered.
Similarly, a man was seen in wandering the neighborhood the day Kay was murdered and on the afternoon of her death. A sketch of the suspect was widely distributed but still police have not been able to identify the stranger.
Kay Wenal, 60, (pictured) was found dead on May 1, 2008 in the kitchen of the rented Lawrenceville, Georgia home that she shared with her husband Harold ‘Hal’ Wenal
The model had been punched in the face and chased through her kitchen, before being slashed in the throat twice with an ‘extremely sharp’ instrument, such as a ‘scalpel’
Hal came home to the upscale neighborhood of Sugarloaf Springs in Gwinnett County to find his wife dead in a pool of blood with her throat slit.
The officer who responded to his panicked 911 call arrived to find him ‘laid down beside his wife, begging us to help,’ said the police report.
With no signs of forced entry and no theft from the property, police at first turned their attention to Hal. However, police were unable to find any obvious motive and he was cleared after three weeks of investigations.
Neither Hal nor Kay appeared to have been involved in extramarital affairs and their family and friends told investigators the pair were a happy couple.
Furthermore, grief-stricken Hal was determined to find his wife’s killer. He hired his own team of private investigators to probe the case and put up a $250,000 reward. He also had an ironclad alibi for the time of murder.
Although there is little evidence in the case, detectives believe that Kay was murdered by a man whom she probably knew.
Kay was meant to be at work the day of her slaying, but changed her mind after deciding she did not feel well.
John Insogna, a retired FBI agent who investigated the case, told CBS 48 Hours that ‘whoever did this knew she was home’ and entered the property without force.
Neither Hal nor Kay (pictured together) appeared to have been involved in extramarital affairs and their family and friends told investigators the pair were a happy couple
A note (pictured) written using cut-out letters from magazines was mailed to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Norcross office in the months after she was found dead. The letter was turned over to police and examined by the crime lab, but no DNA or forensics were discovered
A police artist drew a sketch (left) of a man was seen in wandering the neighborhood the day Kay was murdered and on the afternoon of her death. The man in the sketch resembled an individual (right) that Kay had been photographed with in Las Vegas years earlier
‘Nobody saw him coming in,’ Insogna said. ‘Nobody saw him leave.’
He suspects that Kay let the killer into the home and was immediately assaulted at the front door by someone who was right-handed and wearing ‘rubber gloves’, as evidenced by pieces of latex gloves that were found inside the home and on the back deck.
Kay’s attacker likely ‘hit her with a very, very powerful blow back that stunned her’, investigators have claimed. They believe she tried to escape through the kitchen, but before she could seek help, the assailant took control of her.
He slashed her throat once and then again – in what detective Ned Timmons referred to as an ‘insurance cut’ – to ‘make sure that she was gonna die’ and then fled the scene.
A towel with smudges of her blood was also found in her closet off the master bedroom, leading detectives to believe that the attacker may have taken ‘one final trophy’.
They also believe that he escaped through the woods behind the Wenal family’s residence.
‘The impressions that I got were that someone was very comfortable in that home, knew their way around that home,’ investigator Kathleen Timmons told the TV program of Kay’s killer. ‘This person has no concern that anyone is going to walk in and catch him. And then walks out the back door and departs.’
She added: ‘He clearly knew where he was going, too, when he left – that takes an awful lot of prior planning.’
Investigators suspect Kay let her killer into the home (pictured) and was immediately assaulted at the front door by someone who was right-handed and wearing ‘rubber gloves’. The attacker then slashed her throat twice in the kitchen
The team allegedly found ‘unusual’, ‘kinky’ and ‘almost perverted’ materials in the home that they have described as ‘fetish wear.’ Hal, who admitted the couple went to a masquerade party where ‘she dressed like a French maid’, (pictured) said he did not know anything about his wife’s so-called fetish attire
Investigators believe Kay’s glasses (pictured) were sent flying after her attacker punched her in the face. The assailant likely ‘hit her with a very, very powerful blow back that stunned her’
Although Hal was the initial suspect in Kay’s death, investigators do not think he was involved in her murder.
They do believe a stranger who was seen walking through the neighborhood, which neighbors say is not a walking-friendly area, the day before and day of her death.
The seemingly car-less stranger had been carrying a flyer advertising a for-sale home in the subdivision and asked for directions to the property.
The same man was then seen again, walking towards the Wenal house, around the suspected time of Kay’s killing.
A police artist worked with the witness to create a sketch of the suspect. The man in the sketch resembled an individual that Kay had been pictured with in Las Vegas years earlier.
But police ‘never could identify’ the man in the photographer and ‘nobody seemed to know who he was’, the investigative team recalled.
Officials were also presented with another puzzling clue after a local newspaper received an expletive-filled letter that seemed to imply Kay had been intimate with someone other than her husband.
Police believe Kay had been chased through the home before the attacker slashed her throat twice in the kitchen, (pictured) where she was found dead in a pool of her own blood. They suspect he fled the scene through the woods behind the property
Police do not suspect that Kay’s murder was a robbery as her wallet, credit cards and expensive jewelry, like the pieces pictured above, were found in the home
Crime scene investigators found little to no evidence at the home even though there had been a ‘lot of blood’ shed at the scene. They did find pieces of latex gloves (pictured) inside the home and on the back deck
No fingerprints, footprints, defensive wounds, hairs or fibers were found at the property and all of the blood tested had belong to Kay. Pictured is blood on the hallway floor
The author alleged that Kay was miserable in her marriage and home, and ‘said we could be together’ but ultimately decided to stay with Hal.
Some investigators believe the letter was penned by a ‘spurned lover’ but others suspect it was sent as a ‘red herring’ – to distract from the case.
Former FBI profiler Mary Ellen O’Toole called the note ‘scripted’ and said it looks like ‘what the author thinks threat letters should look like’.
She added: ‘This is someone I think that’s pretending to be the killer – to create this boogeyman suspect and to push the police away from the actual motive in the case.’
O’Toole further argued that a spurned lover would have written several notes about Kay, including ones praising her, before branding her a ‘horrible’ human being that he hated.
‘Even if it’s a delusional stalker, initially they love their victims. They’re beautiful. They’re gonna spend their life together. It’s only after a few letters that you see that transition,’ she told the program.
Investigators did not find any evidence that Kay was having an affair, but do think she had some sort of ‘secret life’ that Insogna believes holds the answer to her murder.
The team allegedly found ‘unusual’, ‘kinky’ and ‘almost perverted’ materials in the home that they have described as ‘fetish wear.’
Kay Wenal was killed in her own home in May 2008 and her murderer has never been found
Hal, who admitted the couple went to a masquerade party where ‘she dressed like a French maid’, said he did not know anything about his wife’s so-called fetish attire.
‘These outfits were not something a French maid would wear,’ Insogna said. ‘And if she’s not wearin’ them for Hal, then who’s she wearin’ ’em for?’
The team is convinced that Hal knew about Kay’s ‘secret life’ and was involved in some way.
Hal died of a heart attack in June 2010 at the age of 74 and he was buried next to his wife. His estate cut off the reward and his team of private investigators were fired.
The case remains unsolved today. Anyone with information about Kay’s murder is asked to contact the Gwinnett County Criminal Investigation Division Anonymous tip line at 1-770-513-5390 or Crime Stoppers Atlanta at 1-404-577-8477.
