New technology helps investigators solve 20-year-old cold case

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Investigators in Richmond County have cracked a decades-old cold case thanks to advanced identification technology.

This brings long-awaited answers in the 2005 murder of Catrina Evans.

Evans was found stabbed to death inside her home at the Mt. Zion Apartments on Amsterdam Drive in South Augusta.

Her body had gone undiscovered for seven days. Despite Evan’s injuries, her 13-month-old daughter, Iyana, was found unharmed but dehydrated and was taken to the hospital.

Tijuana Harris, who didn’t want her face on camera, moved into the same apartment just a year later.

“I’m glad she can rest now,” she said.

Harris has lived there ever since.

“I didn’t know this was the apartment,” she said. “My daughter and I went out the door and the police tape was still on the door.”

When Harris began asking around about the police tape on her door, that’s when she later learned about the tragic events that unfolded in the place she calls home.

Among the evidence collected at the time was a palm impression left near Evans’ body. Despite numerous tips over the years, the case went cold.

“During the investigation, there were a lot of tips, a lot of leads that unfortunately just didn’t pan out,” said Sgt. Randall Amos, Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.

That changed in December 2024, when Amos received new information from an investigator in Lumpkin County, Georgia.

“[They] had some potential information on the case and wanted to talk about it,” he said.

That was the first time Amos had heard of Evans’ case. While he couldn’t elaborate on what the new information was, he did say the tip prompted him to reopen the case and resubmit evidence—including the palm print.

“A palm print database called NGI, Next Generation Identification, which is different from what we typically have used and we’re still using, which is aphis, the automated fingerprint identification system,” Amos said.

The database produced a match: 56-year-old Juan Renardo Chunn, who is currently serving a life sentence in North Carolina for first-degree murder. Now Ramos says they’ll be using the NGI system to crack other cold cases.

“It’s just another tool that we will use to try and clear some of these cases and get people off the streets that have committed acts like this,” Amos said.

Chunn has now been charged with murder in Evans’ case and awaits extradition from North Carolina to face charges in Richmond County, according to Amos.

Evans’ daughter, now in her 20s, declined to comment on the recent developments.