A 911 call was made early on April 1, 1999, reporting the discovery of a nude, deceased woman in the parking lot of a business located in the Atlanta metropolitan area.

Investigators later identified the victim as 49-year-old Agnes Jennifer Lee through fingerprints from a misdemeanor shoplifting arrest. 

“Her scalp was detached from her skull. There were scratches and abrasions on her body, along with dirt pressed into her skin. This suggested she had been run over,” explained Lisa Jones, who once served as Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney in the Gwinnett County DA’s Office.

“Nearby, we found teeth that had been knocked out, making the scene quite graphic,” Jones remarked during the “Search for a Monster” episode of The Real Murders of Atlanta, which airs on Saturdays at 8/7c p.m.

At the crime scene, Dr. Steven Dunton, a former Chief Medical Examiner for Gwinnett County, estimated that Lee’s time of death was roughly 12 hours earlier. Observing the body, a tire imprint — size P235 — was visible on the victim’s thigh. 

That telltale tire print would be a vital clue to catching the killer to this monstrous murder that left the victim’s loved ones and Atlanta’s tight-knit Chinatown community reeling.

Agnes Jennifer Lee’s cause of death

Investigators initially suspected that Lee may have been run over by her killer to cover up a sex crime, said David Henry, who was then a detective with the Gwinnett County Police Department.

But the autopsy revealed no evidence of such an attack. Lee’s cause of death was strangulation. “She was already deceased when she received the crushing injuries of her chest by a vehicle,” Dunton said.

Bixler’s son, Joshua, a high school student who worked part-time, saw Lee on March 31, 1999, the same day she was killed. The teen was possibly the last person to see Lee alive.

Police chase leads in Agnes Jennifer Lee’s murder

On April 4, investigators talked with Joshua Bixler. He said that on Wednesday, March 31, he saw Lee at the office at 12:15 p.m., which was less than eight hours before investigators believed she was killed. She was talking and laughing with a man who was seated behind her desk, Joshua said in the recorded interview.

Joshua gave detectives a full description of the man. He was white, in his 30s or 40s, and fairly short and stocky, with brown hair.

“Joshua then gives them perhaps what is the biggest, most explosive piece of evidence yet,” said Atlanta television journalist Shaunya Chavis. 

He recalled a vehicle parked outside that he believed belonged to Lee’s visitor. He told police it was a truck — a gold 1998 Ford Explorer. 

Investigators immediately headed to a car dealership nearby. “We learned that the newer Ford Explorer definitely would have P235s,” Jones said. “That was a huge clue.”

At that point, detectives put out an APB on the 1998 gold Ford Explorer. Police then combed through Lee’s office to search for anything that might relate to the murder.

“The office hadn’t been ransacked at all,” Chavis said. “There was no sign of forced entry. So, there was nothing to lead police to believe that this office had something to do with the crime.”

Investigators collected calendars, address books, and notepads to go through that might yield possible clues. 

Agnes Jennifer Lee’s car found at her job

Lee’s car was parked outside her office. It was taken back to police headquarters where it was fully processed for any type of relevant evidence. Detectives didn’t turn up any leads connected to the murder.

“What we did find was that Jennifer’s car was registered to an address that actually belonged to an individual by the name of Clifford Walsh,” said Jones.

Walsh explained to investigators that a few years earlier, Lee had come to live with him but then moved out after just two or three months.

Lee was living with Walsh when she registered her vehicle. He denied any wrongdoing and provided an alibi for his whereabouts at the time of the slaying. Walsh’s story was checked out, and he was cleared.

Agnes Jennifer Lee’s handwritten note leads to suspect

As Lee was laid to rest, the pain of her loss and fear within her community that her killer was still at large increased pressure on police, according to The Real Murders of Atlanta. 

Detectives focused on items collected from Lee’s office in hopes of finding a lead to the identity of her March 31 visitor. Her calendar had the name Robert written on that date. Lee’s daughter also helped investigators by finding a handwritten note in her mother’s belongings that had the name Robert, followed by the letter “V.” 

Detectives cross-referenced Ford Explorer registrations with men whose first name was Robert and last name started with a V. Five weeks into the case, they turned up an individual — 40-year-old Robert Vaughn. 

Investigators learned that several years earlier, Vaughn had been arrested for burglary. Police made a photo line-up using his mug shot. Joshua Bixler picked Vaughn out as the man he saw with Lee on March 31.

Det. Henry went to Vaughn’s home and explained he was seeking information about Lee. Vaughn agreed to come to the police station, where he said that he’d met Lee in 1997 through a neighbor.

Vaughn claimed that he’d last see Lee about two months earlier. Henry told him he had a witness who saw him with her on March 31.

“It may have been,” Vaughn said in the recorded interview. “The last time I’d seen her, she was alive, walking, breathing.”

Henry pushed further, asking Vaughn, “Why did you run her over? Was it an accident?” Vaughn then asked to speak with a lawyer.

Detectives rushed to get a search warrant for Vaughn’s Ford Explorer. The vehicle’s P235 tires were clearly visible. Blood inside the truck and hair found on its undercarriage were matched to Lee. 

Robert Vaughn charged with Agnes Jennifer Lee’s murder

On May 13, 1999, Vaughn was arrested for Lee’s murder. He declined to make any statement. In August of 2005, his trial began. 

Prosecutors believed that Vaughn made “a sexual advance and she rebuffed him,” said Jones. In anger, Vaughn strangled Lee and covered up his crime by stripping her naked and running her over, prosecutors said.

Vaughn was found guilty and sentenced to life. He never confessed to the crime, so the motive for the brutal murder remains unknown.

To learn more about the case, watch the “Search for a Monster” episode of The Real Murders of Atlanta. The show airs new episodes on Saturdays at 8/7c p.m. on Oxygen.