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Atlanta Millionaire with "Secrets" Found Bludgeoned To Death in Home, Had "Quite a Few Girlfriends"
There were no shortage of suspects who may have wanted businessman Lance Herndon dead, investigators discovered.
From the outside, Atlanta millionaire Lance Herndon was the embodiment of success.
But when the charismatic entrepreneur was found dead in his home on August 9, 1996, investigators would soon discover that not everything was as it seemed, according to a new Dateline airing Friday, November 22 at 9/8c p.m. on NBC.
“When millionaire businessman Lance Herndon is found bludgeoned to death in his Atlanta home, the search for his killer reveals no shortage of suspects — or secrets,” reads a synopsis of the episode, titled “The Killer Among Them.”
Just months before he was killed, the respected entrepreneur was celebrated in a “night to remember,” Dateline correspondent Andrea Canning says in a voiceover in a preview of the episode.
“It was gonna be the best party Atlanta has ever seen,” Herndon’s close friend Talana Carraway told Dateline.
But no one could have imagined the dark turn Herndon’s life would take months later.
What happened to Lance Herndon?
Found murdered in his Atlanta-area home at age 41, there were a lot of questions to be answered. “With little to go on, investigators needed to dig into Lance Herndon’s life,” Canning explained in the Dateline preview clip.
While some suspected that one of Herndon’s business rivals could have been responsible, authorities soon discovered that Herndon was hiding some dangerous secrets.
"Investigators quickly learned that Lance had quite a few girlfriends," podcaster Ericka Bozeman said on the newsmagazine.
As private investigator Charles Mittelstadt told Dateline, "What we saw on the surface was just a very small percentage of what was going on in his life."
In her final words to Herndon, Carraway urged her good friend to “be careful.”
“Literally, I was like, ‘You better be careful,’” an emotional Carraway told Canning, admitting that at the time, she didn't realize how important those words would be.
Although it’s been nearly three decades since Herndon's death, Canning said his legacy continues to live on in those closest to him, including his son Harrison Herndon.
“Even though our victim’s son lost his father as a young boy, he is guided by him today with his choices and the path he took in life,” Canning told NBC Insider.
The Dateline correspondent added hat the most surprising part of covering this story was “realizing how many potential suspects were in the victim’s world.”
Along with Harrison, Carraway and Bozeman, the episode also features interviews with former Executive District Attorney in Fulton County Clint Rucker, and Roswell Police Officer Tommy Williams.
“The most challenging part about covering this story was catching up with all the players who are now all over the country,” Canning told NBC Insider. “We did a lot of interviews and traveled a lot for this one!”
To find out how the case comes together, watch Dateline on Friday, November 22 at 9/8c p.m. on NBC or catch the episode when it becomes available on Peacock the following day.
And for even more Dateline, sign up for the show's official newsletter and check out its podcast.
