Louis Nava: Abducted and Killed in Broad Daylight

The Assassination of an Atlanta-Area Teenager Leads to His Killer’s Controversial Claims of Mental Impairment.

June 6, 1998

Louis Nava was sixteen years old in the summer of 1998, a member of the Dunwoody (Georgia) Takedown Club, captain of his Dunwoody High School wrestling team, and the second child and second of three sons in a family of four children. In addition to wrestling, he had a dedication to teaching and instructing children. On Saturday, June 6, he was only six days from turning seventeen.

The biggest news story in Dunwoody before the summer of 1998 was the F2 tornado that tore across the metro area in April. Although it struck DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett and Cobb Counties, the most severe damage was in Dunwoody, where its half-mile wide width and more than 150 mile-per-hour winds caused one fatality, ten injuries and over $100 million in damage. Hundreds of homes in the area had major damage with dozens that were destroyed.

Unlike Georgia’s capitol city of Atlanta, located less than 20 miles south, Dunwoody typically had little violent crime. A former bedroom community, the growth of the metro Atlanta area and urban sprawl sent residents north and Dunwoody found its community and borders growing. New neighborhoods, with single-family residences, townhomes, condos and apartment buildings sprouted up, as did commercial businesses. Perimeter Mall, on busy…