Atlanta’s Murdered Children: Re-Open The Cases
Twenty-five years ago, a young man named Wayne Williams was sent off to state prison- convicted of two murders. At the same time, investigators in Atlanta closed the books on several other killings and named Wayne Williams the lone killer in the more than twenty Atlanta Missing Children Cases.
I never have believed investigators got to the bottom of all of the killings. Recently, the new police chief in Dekalb County (on the east side of Atlanta) said nearly the same thing. The former member of the task force assembled to solve the killings has publicly called for at least five of the cases to be re-opened.
I knew Wayne Williams in a peripheral way. He was a good television film photographer. Wayne had a nice camera, and a Plymouth that looked exactly like a police car. He would use his scanner radio to chase down crime and spot news and film it. Wayne sold his footage to the television stations in Atlanta including WSB-TV. At that time, the radio and television divisions were next door to each other and Wayne would come into the station early in the morning to borrow our radio scripts, photocopy them, then attach the scripts to the film cannisters so the assignment editors and producers would know what he had filmed.
He was a slightly built fellow, and in my opinion, no match for some of the older, wiry young men who had fallen victim to a killer during that period of time. But there was fiber evidence found on some of the bodies, and it connected Wayne Williams with the murdered young people. But we still do not know how many were connected by fiber evidence.
Wayne might have had something to do with the murders, but again, I strongly believe that the task force wrote off too many of the deaths and closed the cases far too soon. Some of the killings did not fit the general pattern. One of the killings on the so called “list” was that of a young child taken from her house. A female- abduction from inside a house- definitely not the signature pattern of the others.
I was assistant news director, and news director at WSB Radio during much of that time. I was at so many of the crime scenes, one investigator confided to me that they had surveilance photos of me, and checked me out, along with dozens of other innocent people. Nobody was left off the list of potential suspects. It was that scary in Atlanta during that time.
GBI Director Phil Peters once told me that someday, he would tell me some of the “back story” to the investigation. Unfortunately, Phil died of cancer at far too young of an age. One investigator told me that he would like to tell me all he knew, but his career would be over if he told all of the truth.
Wayne Williams may be guilty of all of the killings. Or, he could have simply been the body disposal man for someone else. I think he has a story to tell. Before some of the people involved in the investigation fade into nothingness, we need some answers.
The Dekalb County Police Chief needs to be heard. Before they die, the parents of some of those murder victims deserve all of the truth, if it is there for them to hear.
Dave,
I listen to you every morning on the radio, and just found your blog. I always had a funny feeling about the whole thing at that time. To steal a line from Johnny Cochran i felt it was a "rush to judgement". I certainly have no idea about who the killer is but always thought they used all their unsolved cases and the ones that were easy to just blame on the serial killer and stacked them all up to save themselves the trouble of real investigating. I would say there are several killers walking around who got away with murder because of the sensationalism of the killings and the police departments desire to stack them all in one basket. After 25 years it would seem time for a good comprehensive story by our favorite morning news guy. You are familiar with not only the case, but those around it and even knew the Williams Man. Come on Dave..Do us proud and get the truth.
Charlie
P.S.
I do have one off subject comment. The other morning on the radio show HHH asked about the rumors of KKK activity in Blount county. I have no knowledge of that, but i seem to remember the police saying at the time that the signs written on the walls or whatever concerned blacks and "rednecks". That doesnt seem to scream KKK to me, but rather a bunch of kids that need their hind ends worn out, and just wonder if the mention of it now was an attempt to keep something alive that was blown out of proportion in my opinion. If the KKK is considered a racist organization because they will only let white folks join then couldnt organizations that only allow blacks to join be considered racist as well? I consider the KKK to be a terrorist organization more than a racist one, but i suppose they are both. I am in no way supportive or condone anything they do, but i think they carry several labels with terrorist being at the top. I know we have troubles in our great country and some organizations such as the N.A.A.C.P. have helped all of us see the wrong in past prejudices and feelings, but are they not outdated these days? I have heard these questions spoken under others breath before and people seem unwilling to discuss anything that might cause another to raise an eyebrow in our politically correct world of today. Maybe i suffer from an over abundence of naivete in my 44 years on this earth, but i really do not see the troubles today as they were painfully obvious to me as a child growing up in the sixties. I guess my main question would be this. To be really politically correct and step on no toes, or make anyone mad shouldnt all organizations with an agenda to promote a specific race of people be abolished? Seems that would be the only way to truly have fairness in our land and make an attempt at color blindness as i think it should be. In my opinion a person, if judged at all, should be done so by their character and whether they are an a**hole or not instead of making unfounded assumptions because of their color. At least that is the way i have lived my life, and tried my best to teach my son to not let ones color determine anything about them, and let the good Lord judge them instead of trying to do his job ourselves. And as i said earlier about the KKK, if they show their bodies in public they should be locked up just as those other terrorists that threaten our country have been. Sorry this turned into a letter, but just wondered your thoughts on it, and go get to the bottom of that mess in Georgia. I would hate to see Mr. Williams be an innocent victim in all this as well as those that were killed along with all the families that have suffered through the years for the sake of a few fibers and a departments convenience. Thank you Dave, and just my 2 cents worth.
I really loved reading your post, it was very interesting.