Prosecutors say a traffic cone ultimately cracked the case and helped them convict three men of murder after an elaborate robbery ended with death.
The Fulton County District Attorney's Office recounted the last moments of 21-year-old Kandarius Medlock's life as a robbing crew made their approach to his home on Wade Creek Road in Alpharetta.
After working many days and long hours, he was celebrating his birthday morning at home on a final day off. That was April 21, 2016 - the day he died.
His death came at the hands of 33-year-old Michael Dawson, 31-year-old Jamel Gines and 33-year-old Dontravious Mahone, prosecutors said. But it would be two months before detectives found what they needed to support charges.
The evidence began with a traffic cone used to seal the deal as Mahone, already wearing a reflective vest, pretended to be a utility worker outside the victim's home. A short time later he, Dawson and Gines burst into the home's front door, tied Medlock up with an extension cord and ransacked the home stealing valuables along the way.
They fired two shots on the way out, one of them hitting the victim in the back of the head, killing him.
But it was what they left behind before speeding away in a maroon Hyundai Accent that led detectives on a trail that ended in quick sells and evidence hidden in closets.
The traffic cone - the one used as a prop in a disguise - was still at the scene. Alpharetta Detective Bochiniak started with that and ultimately helped make the case against all three.
Close examination showed that the make and model of the cone matched ones sold at a nearby hardware store. It turns out that just an hour before the deadly invasion, both Gines and Dawson were in that very store - surveillance video proved it.
After they bought the item, more video then showed them getting into the very same maroon Hyundai Accent spotted at the scene that morning. Through further investigation, police found cell phone records that placed all three men at the scene of the crime and discovered that Mahone rented the getaway car two days before the murder. Inside the car was a GPS device that placed it at the scene of the crime the day the deadly home invasion happened.
It was a massive stockpile of evidence, but the final piece brought investigators right back to where it all started - the traffic cone.
That's because an examination from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation found Dawson's DNA on it.
On June 28 of that year, just two months after the murder, Detective D. Bochniak executed search warrants on the defendants' homes. Inside Mahone's house was a gun stolen from the victim and a gaming system that he took from the dead man - and had since used. A Gucci scarf and Louis Vuitton duffel bag were found in Dawson's home and they later learned that his fiance had pawned a stolen watch at a shop in Conyers.
The three men were charged and later convicted of murder, felony murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, first-degree home invasion, armed robbery, first-degree burglary, false imprisonment, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, financial transaction card fraud, identity fraud and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
All three also had previous arrest records. Mahone had four prior arrests and was convicted of theft of firearms, interference with commerce by threats of violence and use of a firearm during a crime of violence back in 2005. Dawson had been arrested nine times before on charges that included a cruelty to children conviction in 2008. And Gines had been in jail three times before and convicted of identity theft in 2014 as well as a federal charge for armed robbery of a bank.
All three will be sentenced on Dec. 17.