[8], Williams was questioned again by police for twelve hours on June 3 and 4 at FBI headquarters and released without arrest or charge, but remained under surveillance. Only mitochondrial DNA was tested which, unlike nuclear DNA, cannot be shown to be unique to one dog. You didn't have one general pattern, but two or three sub-groups with several suspects," Williams told the Atlanta … Two days later, on May 24, the nude body of Nathaniel Cater, 27, was found floating downriver a few miles from the bridge where police had seen the suspicious station wagon. "[41][42], Williams appears as the main antagonist in several media portrayals of the case. The medical examiner ruled he had died of probable asphyxia but never specifically said he had been strangled. Williams graduated from Douglass High School and developed a keen interest in radio and journalism. The identification of Wayne Williams as the Atlanta Child Murderer happened despite errors and obfuscations by police, a common thread in many serial killing cases and notorious murderer careers. [26][27], The Atlanta Child Murders, a three-part documentary series produced by Will Packer Productions, aired on Investigation Discovery in March 2019. This page was last edited on 5 May 2021, at 21:04. The film was centered around the murders and the arrest of the suspect. "[19][20], As of 2019, Wayne Williams continues to maintain his innocence. But I do think history will judge us by our actions and we will be able to say we tried. Williams' lawyer, Jack Martin, asked a Fulton County Superior Court judge to allow DNA tests on canine and human hair and blood, stating the results might help Williams win a new trial. If you’re wondering who actually committed the Atlanta child murders and don’t feel like waiting for Mindhunter Season 2’s release later this week, here’s everything you need to know. [30], "The Atlanta Child Murders" redirects here. The deaths became known as the Atlanta Child Murders. ... Wayne Williams—The Atlanta Child Murders . Co-workers told police they had seen Williams with scratches on his face and arms around the time of the murders which, investigators surmised, could have been inflicted by victims during struggles. The second season of Netflix’s Mindhunter just dropped recently, with the new batch of episodes partially dealing with a real-life case known as the Atlanta Child Murders. Both of his parents were teachers. But I do think history will judge us by our actions, and we will be able to say we tried. During that time, approximately 29 Black kids and young adults, mainly boys, were found murdered. Hairs and fibers retrieved from the body of another victim, Jimmy Ray Payne, were found to be consistent with those from his home, car, and dog. Butts County Superior Court judge Hal Craig denied his appeal. [16] On November 20, 2019, Williams was again denied parole. ], Criminal profiler John E. Douglas said that, while he believes that Williams committed many of the murders, he does not think that he committed them all. In March 2019, the Atlanta police, under the order of Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, reopened the cases in hopes that new technology will lead to a conviction for the murders that were never resolved. [13] After Williams became a suspect, the killings stopped.[2]. Old homicide logs are stacked on another table. The most important evidence against Williams was the fiber analysis between the victims who he was indicted for murdering, Jimmy Ray Payne and Nathaniel Cater, and the 12 pattern-murder cases in which circumstantial evidence culminated in numerous links between the crimes. In 1981, British novelist Martin Amis published "The Killings in Atlanta" for The Observer, later compiled into The Moronic Inferno: And Other Visits to America (1986). Other evidence included witness testimony that placed Williams with several victims while they were alive, and inconsistencies in his accounts of his whereabouts. Douglas had previously conducted an interview with People magazine about profiling the killer as a young black man. In 2002, Tayari Jones published the novel Leaving Atlanta. When stopped and questioned, he told police that he was on his way to check on an address in a neighboring town ahead of an audition the following morning with a young singer named Cheryl Johnson. This line of deduction clashes with that of his colleague Agent Tench, the Atlanta Police Department, and the African-American community of Atlanta–many of whom believe, in light of Georgia's history of hate crimes and racial violence, that the killings are the work of the Ku Klux Klan. His lawyers have said the conviction was a "profound miscarriage of justice" that has kept an innocent man incarcerated for the majority of his adult life and allowed the real killers to go free. Although those cases were closed, as of 2019, they have been reopened, in hopes that modern technology will allow for a conviction. This was widely reported as the FBI effectively declaring Williams guilty, and Douglas was officially censured by the Director of the FBI.[9]. In 2000, Showtime released a drama film titled Who Killed Atlanta's Children? [13], In May 2004, about six months after becoming the DeKalb County Police Chief in November 2003, Louis Graham reopened the investigations into the deaths of the five DeKalb County victims: 10-year-old Aaron Wyche, 13-year-old Curtis Walker, 9-year-old Yusuf Bell, 17-year-old William Barrett, and 11-year-old Patrick Baltazar. "[19], Other observers have criticized the thoroughness of the investigation and the validity of its conclusions. In a news conference, Mayor Bottoms said, "It may be there is nothing left to be tested. starring James Belushi and Gregory Hines.[24]. [12] At a 1991 hearing on Williams' request for a new trial, wherein he was represented by attorneys Alan Dershowitz, William Kunstler, and Bobby Lee Cook, investigators from both Atlanta and Georgia law-enforcement agencies testified they had little or no knowledge of the GBI's investigation. [4] Based on this evidence, including the police officer's hearing of the splash, police believed that Williams had killed Cater and disposed of his body while the police were nearby. Forty years ago in Atlanta, Georgia, a serial killer abducted and brutally murdered at least 28 black children between the ages of 7 and 17, in the span of three years. 1986)", "CNN viewers: Williams 'guilty' in Atlanta child murders", Trace Evidence: Dead People Do Tell Tales, Johnson, J. James (1984) "The Odds of Criminal Justice in Georgia: Mathematically Expressed Probabilities in Georgia Criminal Trials, "Why TV Movie About Atlanta Child Murders Had to Be Made", "Atlanta Child Murders: Our 1986 Feature, "A Question of Justice, "Police chief behind probe in new killings resigns", "The Esoteric Codex: Unidentified Serial Killers", "DA, defense spar over meaning of new DNA test on dog hairs in Atlanta child murder case", "Police plan to re-test Atlanta Child Murders evidence", "Decades after Atlanta child murders, families hope for a breakthrough in new review", "Wayne Williams: 'ready and willing to cooperate' in new Atlanta Child Murders probe", CNN: CNN viewers: Williams 'guilty' in Atlanta child murders, "The Real FBI Agent Behind Mindhunter on What Actually Happened in Atlanta", "The True Story Behind Mindhunter's Atlanta Child Murders", "Will Packer To Produce 'The Atlanta Child Murders' For ID", "The new HBO docuseries 'Atlanta's Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children' transcends true crime' For ID", "Atlanta Child Murders suspect Wayne Williams denied appeal for parole", "Maynard Jackson Mayoral Administrative Records", Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library, Cotton States and International Exposition, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Atlanta_murders_of_1979–1981&oldid=1021641979, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing additional references from November 2009, All articles needing additional references, All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases, Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from April 2020, Articles with self-published sources from February 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, On September 4, the next victim, 14-year-old, On March 4, 1980, the first female victim, 12-year-old, On March 11, one week after Lanier's disappearance, 11-year-old, In July 1980, two more children, 9-year-old, The murders continued into 1981. Over the two-year period, at least 28 children, adolescents, and adults were killed. Was a serial killer, targeting children, loose on the streets of Atlanta? In a week, the team reported on the dead and missing children, and they broke the story that the Atlanta Police Task Force was not writing down or following up on every lead they received through the police hotline that had been set up. [6], Fibers from a carpet in the Williams residence were found to match those observed on two of the victims. Was Wayne Williams the Atlanta Child Murderer? [7] Williams held a press conference outside his home to proclaim his innocence, volunteering that he had failed the polygraph tests, which would have been inadmissible in court. Over the two-year period, at least 28 children, adolescents, and adults were killed. The trial officially began on January 6, 1982, with Judge Clarence Cooper presiding. [17], Later in 2007, the FBI performed DNA tests on two human hairs found on one of the victims. "[15][self-published source? [22], On May 6, 2005, DeKalb County Police Chief Louis Graham ordered the reopening of the murder cases of four boys killed in that county between February and May 1981, whose deaths had been attributed to Williams. Jury selection began on December 28, 1981, and it lasted six days. That was their way out. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Many had been strangled. Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker said that "although this does not end the appeal process, I am pleased with the results in the habeas case" and that his office will "continue to do everything possible to uphold the conviction. Former DeKalb County Sheriff Sidney Dorsey, who was an Atlanta homicide detective at the time, also said he believed Williams was wrongly blamed for the murders. Sanders did not directly implicate the KKK or lead his friend to believe that anyone else from the organization was involved. Defense attorney Lynn Whatley immediately announced that the report would form the basis for a new appeal, but prosecutors responded that hair evidence played only a minor role in Williams's conviction. Filmmakers Payne Lindsey and Donald Albright compiled research and interviews to find out whether Williams was the Atlanta child serial killer. Police staked out nearly a dozen area bridges, including crossings of the Chattahoochee River. ", "Police Reopen Atlanta Child Killing Cases", "Just a Few of The Anomalies of The Atlanta Child Murders! [6], Two days later, on May 24, the nude body of 27-year-old Nathaniel Cater, who had been missing for four days, was discovered in the river. In a news conference, Mayor Bottoms said, "It may be there is nothing left to be tested.
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