Cartersville – The Other Patricia Ann
Why Cartersville Police Are Asking Again After 26 Years
True Crime | Working File
On July 27, 2000, a concerned coworker went to an apartment at 130 North Erwin Street in Cartersville, Georgia.
Inside, Patricia Ann Hanlon, 53, was found dead in her bedroom.
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Hanlon had been murdered, her apartment was in disarray, several items appeared to be missing, and there were no obvious signs of forced entry. The back door was partially open. Investigators believe she may have been dead for some time before she was discovered. Georgia Bureau of Investigation
Twenty-six years later, the case remains unsolved.
And in July 2026, Cartersville Police and the GBI asked the public to look at it again. WBHF
That alone would make the Hanlon case worth revisiting.
But there is another detail.
Ten years earlier, another woman named Patricia Ann was murdered just outside Cartersville.
Her name was Patricia Ann Woody.
That case is still unsolved too. Georgia Bureau of Investigation
There is no public evidence that the two crimes are connected.
Still, the coincidence is difficult not to notice.
Patricia Ann Hanlon
The official GBI case file lists Hanlon’s death as occurring sometime shortly before her discovery on July 27, 2000. The bureau says her body was found in the bedroom of her apartment by a coworker at around noon. She was wearing bed clothes, the apartment was in disarray, and several items appeared to be missing. Georgia Bureau of Investigation
The GBI’s current page places the likely murder window between July 24 and July 27. A local Cartersville report issued during the renewed 2026 appeal gives a broader possible window beginning July 21. The discrepancy may simply reflect differing summaries of the investigative timeline, and there is no public basis for choosing one over the other. Georgia Bureau of Investigation
What is clear is that Hanlon had been dead long enough for investigators to believe the killing occurred before the day she was found.
There were no obvious signs of forced entry. Georgia Bureau of Investigation
That detail does not prove that Hanlon knew her killer. A door may have been left unsecured, entry may have been gained another way, or the scene may have changed before discovery. But absence of forced entry narrows the questions investigators have to ask.
Who could enter without drawing attention?
Who would Patricia Hanlon have opened the door for?
And what, if anything, was taken from the apartment?
Why Police Are Asking Again
On July 27, 2026, Cartersville Police renewed their public appeal in the case.
Police Chief Kevin Cloninger said the homicide remains a priority and emphasized that people who were unwilling to speak years ago may feel differently now. Investigators specifically asked the public not to dismiss seemingly minor memories or details. WBHF
That is a familiar pattern in cold-case work.
Time destroys some evidence, but it can also loosen old loyalties.
Relationships end.
People move.
Fear changes.
Someone who once protected another person may no longer feel obligated to do so.
And sometimes an old case moves because investigators finally get one fact that had been sitting in someone else’s memory for decades.
Bartow County has seen exactly that kind of late movement before. In 2025, the GBI arrested Gary and Mary Fowler in connection with the 2001 killing of Travis Silvers, whose body had been found in his truck in Adairsville. The arrests came 24 years after the homicide. Georgia Bureau of Investigation
That does not tell us anything about who killed Patricia Hanlon.
It does show that “cold” does not necessarily mean finished.
The Other Patricia Ann
On April 25, 1990, Robert “Monty” Woody and his wife, Patricia Ann Woody, were found dead inside their home on Rudy York Road just outside Cartersville.
Robert had been beaten and stabbed.
Patricia had been strangled and stabbed.
Investigators believe the killings occurred between midnight and 3 a.m. after the couple returned from a friend’s home. There were no signs of forced entry. According to the GBI, investigators believe the assailant knew the couple and that Robert was the intended target, with Patricia becoming a victim because she was present. Georgia Bureau of Investigation
That case remains unsolved.
Ten years later, Patricia Ann Hanlon was killed in another residence in the Cartersville area.
Two women.
The same first and middle name.
Both killed at home.
Both cases still unresolved.
It is the sort of overlap that naturally pulls attention.
But this is where an archive has to be careful.
There is no public evidence that the Woody murders and Hanlon’s murder share a suspect, motive, method, or investigative link.
The shared name is a coincidence unless evidence says otherwise.
The value of noticing it is not that it proves a pattern.
The value is that it reminds us how easily two unresolved lives can sit beside each other in the same geographic archive for decades.
What We Know
In the Hanlon case, the following points are supported by public records:
- Patricia Ann Hanlon was 53 years old.
- She was found dead in the bedroom of her North Erwin Street apartment on July 27, 2000.
- Her apartment was in disarray.
- Several items appeared to be missing.
- There were no obvious signs of forced entry.
- Her back door was partially open when her coworker arrived.
- The case remains unsolved.
- Cartersville Police and the GBI renewed their appeal for information in July 2026. Georgia Bureau of Investigation
What the public record does not tell us is equally important.
It does not identify a suspect.
It does not establish motive.
It does not publicly explain which items were missing.
It does not tell us whether forensic evidence from the apartment can now be retested using newer methods.
And it does not connect Hanlon’s homicide to the Woody murders.
Those gaps should remain gaps unless investigators fill them.
Why Revisit It Now?
Because police are asking again.
That matters.
Cold cases sometimes become invisible precisely because nothing appears to change. Years turn into decades. Names become lines in databases. Familiar streets outlive the people who once occupied them.
Then an agency makes another appeal.
Usually, that means one thing:
They still believe someone knows something.
The renewed request does not mean investigators are close to an arrest.
It does mean the case is not abandoned.
And if the 2025 Travis Silvers arrests proved anything locally, it is that the passage of time does not guarantee permanent silence. Georgia Bureau of Investigation
For Patricia Ann Hanlon, the official question remains open.
Who entered that apartment?
Why was it left in disarray?
What was taken?
And who has carried the answer for the last 26 years?
The Patricia Ann Coincidence
Astra Obscura notes the similarity between the names Patricia Ann Hanlon and Patricia Ann Woody because both women were victims of unsolved homicides in the Cartersville area roughly a decade apart.
There is currently no public evidence linking the cases.
The coincidence is presented as an archival observation, not a theory of connection.
If You Have Information
Cartersville Police have asked anyone with information about Patricia Hanlon’s murder to contact the department’s Criminal Investigations Division at 770-387-5690. The GBI Regional Investigative Office in Calhoun can be reached at 706-624-1424. Anonymous tips can also be submitted through the GBI tip system. WBHF
Sources
Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Unsolved Homicide: Patricia A. Hanlon. Georgia Bureau of Investigation
Cartersville Police / WBHF, Cartersville Police Seeking Answers in the Murder of Patricia Hanlon – 26-Year-Old Homicide Cold Case, July 27, 2026. WBHF
Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Unsolved Homicide: Robert M. Woody and Patricia A. Woody. Georgia Bureau of Investigation
Georgia Bureau of Investigation, GBI Arrests Chatsworth Husband and Wife in 24-Year-Old Bartow County Cold Case Murder Investigation, April 14, 2025.