Suspect arrested in Midtown slaying Man posed as potential buyer of cancer researcher’s condo

Atlanta police arrested a man early Thursday for Tuesday’s beating death of a prominent cancer researcher found dead in her luxury Midtown condominium.
Jamal Thompson, 22, had posed as a potential buyer of Eugenia Calle’s condo to gain entry to her 20th-floor home at the upscale Aqua complex on 10th Street, Atlanta police Lt. Keith Meadows said.
Meadows said Thompson was tracked to southwest Atlanta after using one of Calle’s credit cards.

Thompson is charged with murder, and Meadows said other charges, including robbery and credit card theft, are likely. He was expected to have an initial court hearing Thursday by noon.

The robbery and beating apparently happened around 2 p.m. Tuesday, Meadows said.

The 57-year-old victim, who last month retired from her post as vice president of the epidemiology department at the American Cancer Society, died of blunt force trauma to the back of her head, Meadows said.

Her body was discovered about 11 p.m. Tuesday by her boyfriend, an Atlanta attorney whose name has not been released.

Meadows said Calle and the boyfriend were engaged, and she was trying to sell her condo to move in with him.

Investigators identified Thompson from security video from the 25-story high-rise condominium building at the corner of 10th and West Peachtree streets, Meadows said.

“We had done a financial history on Calle, and were monitoring all of her finanical accounts, and we realized that one of the cards had been used in the Atlantic Station area and the Lenox area,” Meadows said.

Thompson was arrested about 3 a.m. Thursday in southwest Atlanta.

“We got him in a vehicle that we had been tracking,” Meadows said.

The suspect, who is from the Atlanta area, has been arrested previously for burglary, Meadows said.