Interesting… When I was young I remember the Atlanta child murders case, the nonstop hoopla in the media, and the pressure on the atlanta pd to solve it.
Suddenly Wayne Williams as arrested and convicted. Now, two decades later, the Dekalb County police chief, saying he thinks Wayne Williams is innocent, is re-opening the case.
This was my first memorable media-frenzy from my childhood… and I do remember the intense pressure on the atlanta pd to solve this case. 25 years later, it does seem odd that a black 23 year old would be a serial murderer… and frankly it would be easy to convict a shifty black man. I don’t know whether he did it or not, but I do remember it being strange that when the media went into a frenzy back then, there was suddenly an arrest and conviction.
Anyone who remembers the case or even has some germane info is invited to repsond.
My understanding is that Mr. Williams was convicted on shaky circumstantial evidence. It’s possible that he was wrongly convicted. However, it’s telling that the murders ceased after his arrest.
Apparently no new evidence has surfaced - the investigation is being reopened because of a personal belief. I doubt it will change anything.
I remember the fear surrounding it. I was a small child around the time (kindegarten, first grade) and I remember being sent to my room one night when there was a special on television about it. I guess my mother didn’t want me to be scared. The murders occurred close to my neighborhood, even though I didn’t know that until I was in college.
One day my oldest sister took my twin and I to the park, and we somehow got separated from her. An old lady helped us find her, and then the lady commensed to cussing the hell out of my sister. Didn’t she know about the murdered and missing children? I was kinda scared when she said that. In my child’s mind, I thought we had just narrowly escaped death or something.
I do remember the case. I remember at the time, based on what info came out at the trial, that they probably had the right guy.
A lot of people did not, though, and it wasn’t long after that a book came out that claimed a) Williams did not do it, and b) that the Atlanta child murders continued for some time after his arrest. I do not remember the authors, but I believe the name of the book was “The List.” So, if anyone can find a copy, it would be interesting to hear their claims.
Here’s a letter from producer extraordaire Abby Mann (who produced a TV movie/miniseries on the case). It’s interesting that one of his points of contention is about the use of fibers in obtaining a conviction. Apparently that was controversial stuff back in the early '80s.
And call me cynical, but I also suspect that this might be some attempt by the Police Chief to get some publicity.
From what I understand, the reliability of many of the tests police use remains unknown. Fingerprints, at least with 7+ matches are usually reliable. But as I understand it (IANA Police Lab Tech) many other tests are not entirely reliable: Handwriting analysis, fiber matching, etc.
Well worth looking into again. The most damning evidence as others have said is that the murders (seem to have) stopped when WW was arrested. Of course kids go missing every week in a big city I guess, who is to say that a killer may have just slowed down at one time.
The fiber evidence was first used (to my limited knowledge) in this case. It would be good to look at it again with more-modern techniques. No harm in it I suppose.
Further, one has to say WW is a darn odd bird. A police fan, with police lights mounted behind the grill of his car. He was observed on a bridge where an observer (may have) heard a splash in the river. A child’s body was later found in the river.
No obvious signs of pedophiliac activity in WW’s past.
If the police were to want to frame someone, WW’s name would have been on the list. He was known to them.
You know, it might be a darn fine case for some group of criminal justice type students to take as a long-term research project.
I don’t think there’s any chance Wayne Williams is innocent. I’m certain he’s A killer (emphasis on the singular). But I think it’s open to question whether he was the ONLY killer.
No, I’m not suggesting there was a conspiracy, or that Williams had a partner. I’m suggesting merely that the police were so eager to put 20+ cases to bed that they pinned ALL of them on a man who may have committed only SOME of them.
I thought the same thing. I also felt he had killed at least one or more of the kids, but all of them? I was unaware of evidence connecting him to all of them.
It was a very scary time in general, we’d just been through Son of Sam up here.
But that’s assuming that the murders that were attributed to the “Atlanta child killer” were commited by the same person or people, that the cases were even connected. It was certainly in the best interest of the police department to close the cases.
The river was dragged after the alleged splash and nothing was found. Further, the “child” whose body was found (two days later) was 27. Williams was never convicted of killing a “child.” He was convicted of killing two adults, the aforementioned 27 year old and a 21 year old. The task force closed 23 of the 30 cases attributed to the ‘Atlanta child murderer" after Williams’ convictions.
I was in about 4th grade in Atlanta at the time. I don’t remember being terribly worried about it, but I think there was a curfew imposed that summer by which us kids had to be home and off the streets. The curfew was probably past the time when my brother and I had to be in for the night anyway, so it didn’t really affect us to my recollection.
That was also the summer when my mother married my stepfather; they went to Europe on their honeymoon. Apparently, several times they were in small towns in Germany or some place, and when they’d say they were from Atlanta, the locals would say, “Oh! Where the children are being killed!” We were surprised that “our news” was news somewhere else, too.
That’s true, and a good point. However, the chief seems to be saying that Mr. Williams is completely innocent; I’m not sure that’s so. Well, time will tell, we’ll see, all that good shit. I’m certainly not upset that the case is being reopened, just… dubious.