ATLANTA, GA – A Georgia woman has been indicted on 80 counts for allegedly murdering her girlfriend in 2007, dismembering her body into 13 pieces, and then assuming her identity for eight years to collect nearly $140,000 in government benefits.
Angel Thompson was indicted last week in Fulton County Superior Court for the killing of Nicole Alston, 24, whose remains were discovered burning in a black bag at the corner of Whitfield Road and Stitcher Road in Hogansville in 2007. The case remained unsolved for nearly two decades until DNA evidence identified Alston’s remains in December 2023.
“When they found her body, it was cut,” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said at a press conference announcing Thompson’s arrest. “They found 13 pieces of her body, but they were not able to identify her. The reason that they were not able to identify her is because, until this day, we still have not been able to find her hands, her feet, or her head.”
Court records show Thompson faces charges including murder, removal of human body parts from scene of death, identity theft, insurance fraud, forgery, aggravated assault, concealing death of another, and tampering with evidence. Prosecutors allege she killed Alston through “homicidal violence by undetermined means.”
According to investigators, Alston had moved to Georgia from Manhattan, New York, to start a new life with Thompson. The two were living together at 9100 Cascade Palmetto Highway when their relationship deteriorated. Alston’s mother, Sylvia Austin, said her daughter had become the main financial provider in the relationship and told her that Thompson had become “abusive.”
“She wanted to come home but said she had it under control,” Willis told reporters. “That was her last phone call.” Prosecutors said Thompson was worried about losing her “cash cow” and had outstanding warrants in New York that made her reluctant to return there.
Less than a month after allegedly killing Alston, Thompson began using her identity extensively, according to investigators. Troup County Investigator Clay Bryant said Thompson tried to sell Alston’s car, rented out her apartment, and was “already on dating websites, trying to meet people.”
The fraud operation allegedly netted Thompson nearly $140,000 over eight years, including more than $60,000 in Social Security benefits, $17,000 in food stamps, and approximately $60,000 in HUD housing assistance. The benefits continued from late 2007 until March 2015, when they were stopped.
“She did it very well and I believe did it alone,” a Fulton County detective said at the press conference. “Which is why it took so long to get where we are.” Thompson allegedly opened email accounts and bank accounts in Alston’s name and communicated with government agencies to steal her benefits.
The breakthrough in the case came in 2023 when authorities reviewed the cold case and sent DNA evidence to laboratories in Virginia and Texas for analysis. Alston was ultimately identified through an Ancestry.com search conducted by her aunt. Willis said investigators believe Thompson was “trying to recruit other victims” and that the case “ties directly to trafficking other women.”
Thompson is being held at the Fulton County Jail and does not have a future court date listed. Willis called it one of the top three most gruesome cases in her 29 years in criminal law, describing it as “classic domestic violence” that ended tragically.
