MURDERED: Hannah Truelove
It's a late-August evening in North Georgia. It rained hard last night, so the heat and humidity of the day are lingering well into an afternoon that’s quickly moving toward dusk.
Down an embankment, in a densely shaded ravine, there’s a symphony happening: Cicadas hum from their hidden places in high foliage, sparrows and finches chirp and sing from the oak treetops above, and the rushing current of a nearby stream is a reminder of the severity of last night’s storm. Even distant motorboats out on Lake Lanier can be heard from here. The scene is peaceful, almost idyllic.
Suddenly, a man pushes through a thicket of bushes. The insect noises stop, and the birds above take flight. It is eerily quiet now.
As he pauses to catch his breath, the man notices a mannequin lying face down in a nearby pool of rainwater. He’s a Vietnam War veteran, so probably nothing surprises him much. Until he takes a closer look and realizes it’s not a mannequin he’s seeing at all but the dead body of a teenage girl.
This is how 16-year-old Hannah Truelove was found in 2012—stabbed multiple times and left to die in a muddy ditch just a few hundred yards from where she lived at upscale Lake Lanier Club Apartments in Gainesville, Georgia.
Beautiful. Fun. Sensitive. There are so many words one could use to describe Hannah. But really, she was just another normal kid trying to find herself—wondering what her days might look like beyond high school and a gated apartment community that had her trapped in a prison of typical teenage boredom.
Tragically, Hannah Truelove was never allowed to see the future she longed for. Someone took that from her, brutally and uncaringly.
Photo of Hannah
Photo of Hannah
Hannah’s Twitter posts
Investigators searching for Hannah after her mother reported her missing and before an elderly civilian found her body
Hannah’s apartment complex
The wooded area near Hannah’s apartment complex on Lake Lanier where her body was found
If you have any information about Hannah Truelove’s murder or the silver vehicle that was seen at her apartment complex the day she was killed, we encourage you to contact the Hall County Sherriff’s Department tip line at 770-503-3232. You can also call the Georgia Bureau of Investigation tip line at 800-597-8477.
Resources
Researched by Haley Gray
https://gbi.georgia.gov/cases/unsolved-homicide/hannah-truelove
https://www.newspapers.com/image/676678279/?terms=hannah%20truelove&match=1
https://www.newspapers.com/image/424602818/?terms=hannah%20truelove&match=1
https://www.newspapers.com/image/423316833/?terms=hannah%20truelove&match=1
https://www.newspapers.com/image/424596958/?terms=hannah%20truelove&match=1
https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/ng/date/2012-09-14/segment/01
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/gainesvilletimes/name/hannah-truelove-obituary?id=10282979
https://www.11alive.com/article/news/crime/cold-cases/hannah-truelove-murder/85-586984149
