By Olivia Lloyd
Merced Sun-Star (Merced, Calif.)
TROUP COUNTY, Ga. — For eight years, a woman assumed the identity of her friend found dismembered in 2007, Georgia authorities said.
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But law enforcement didn’t know the dead woman’s identity until 2023.
Now, Angel Marie Thompson is charged with concealing a death as investigators are still working to figure out who killed Nicole Alston 17 years ago, the Troup County Sheriff’s Office said in a Sept. 3 news release.
McClatchy News couldn’t locate an attorney for Thompson.
In December 2007, the Troup County Sheriff’s Office was called to investigate a burning bag on the side of the road that contained a body with the head, hands and feet missing, McClatchy News previously reported.
For 16 years, investigators didn’t know who the body belonged to. But in 2023, DNA and genealogical analysis led to the identification of the remains as Alston, according to the sheriff’s office.
Investigators said they contacted Alston’s family, who told them she moved from Manhattan to the Atlanta area when she was 24 with Thompson. Family members stopped hearing from her around the time of Thanksgiving 2007, according to deputies.
But as investigators were working to identify Alston all those years, Thompson is accused of assuming her identity and fraudulently obtaining $200,000.
Thompson began collecting her friend’s supplemental security income benefits, food stamps and getting Section 8 subsidized housing in Alston’s name, deputies said.
According to investigators, the scheme ended in 2015 when the Social Security Administration asked “Alston” to make an appearance in person to continue receiving benefits.
At that point, Thompson “reassumes her original identity,” deputies said.
In August, an investigator learned Thompson lived under Alston’s name for eight years, and she was arrested Aug. 19, deputies said.
Other agencies in Georgia are investigating the fraud. The death investigation is ongoing.
Troup County is about a 50-mile drive north from Columbus.
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