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Old 02-09-2012, 11:33 PM
 
74 posts, read 188,527 times
Reputation: 48

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Well I hate to think about this again but I was here when this happened. I was a state investigator, a Special Agent, for the State of Ga State Youth Services Investigations Unit. We apprehended probation violators and kids who escaped from Ga kiddie prisons which are called YDC's. Some of the victims were kids we knew or were looking for and we shared a lot of information with the Missing and Murdered Children Task Force as they did with us. It was a painful time for law enforcement as we were under tremendous public pressure to bring these cases to an end. You could not escape it. I was single at the time, in my early 20's, and every day in our personal lives my friends would ask me when is somebody going to make it stop. And the cases just kept coming and the pressure just kept getting greater. Before it was over I had developed a Valium dependency and had to go in to rehab. I just couldn't handle it any more. When Wayne Williams was caught on the bridge on James Jackson Pkwy after dumping his last body the murders did stop although there were some victims that had yet to be located. Convicted on the basis of eyewitness testimony, dog hair, and carpet fibers found on some victims the cases were closed. It was the feeling of the task force that he had committed a majority of the murders, some were unrelated, and some were probably copycat killings that took place so they could be lumped in with all of the rest of them. But make no mistake that Wayne Williams is a guilty man. That period of time was probably the saddest time of my life and I eventually resigned from my job. I've just retired now from a Federal govt position and I'm ready to enjoy the end of my working life. But those days, I did not enjoy.
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Old 02-09-2012, 11:49 PM
 
151 posts, read 365,331 times
Reputation: 105
Quote:
Originally Posted by Overcooked_Oatmeal View Post
Are there any posters who were in Atlanta around that time when this was all happening?

Honestly, I think Wayne Williams was railroaded and I don't think he committed all of the murders (but some of them), but there was a political motivation to have someone quickly arrested because Atlanta was losing business and convention dollars. Didn't the murders continue after Williams was arrested and jailed? I've heard everything from the murders being a part of pedophile/child trafficking ring or a satanic cult ritual or the KKK going around killing kids.

I was a little girl when these horrific murders happened and I was living in California at the time, but I vaguely remember a few of my cousins from Atlanta coming to visit us all summer for quite a few years back in the early 80's when these murders were occurring. I was on the phone with one of my relatives and recalled how they would come to LA all summer to visit us and she explained how my aunt was absolutely terrified for her kids and how Atlanta was in a state of sheer panic at the time and she wanted her kids as far from there as possible when they weren't in school.

I know the sheriff of DeKalb county in the late 90's was trying to reopen the case because he served on the original task force, but he had his own set of issues (having his political rival killed), so I don't know whether or not to believe him...

I was reading about the case and it just doesn't sit well with me at all. I get the feeling there is a lot more to it than what was told at the time and that it was a part of something larger and more sinister.

Does anyone in here remember when this was all going on?
If you were in LA why weren't you thinking about the LA serial killers? The Freeway Killers in LA killed children, many of them young hitchhikers, and killed way more than what happened in this case! I know why, it's because of the tabloid media in Atlanta, made worse now with CNN and the AJC the worst newspaper in the country! They are bragging about the case as if it's a good thing! And W.W. is guilty! Look up his birth date, he's a sign that is notorious for fibbing,not saying they aren't good people, they are, but they are what they are when it comes to stretching the truth! I have to LOL at the sherriff. So a convicted killer who lied and killed should be believed? Only CNN would make such a ridiculous assertion! Close thread.
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Old 02-10-2012, 12:25 AM
 
Location: Savannah GA
13,709 posts, read 21,772,096 times
Reputation: 10184
OH GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY! I was a white kid living in the suburbs while all this was going on and remember very vividly the Sunday afternoon lounging in a friend's backyard pool when the deejay broke into the music on Z-93 to announce police had finally arreseted a suspect in the murders! That night we all went to (all-white) church and the preacher said a special prayer thanking god that the nightmare was finally over! The victims may have all been black, but this was a dark period in Atlanta's history that effected all of us very deeply!

YES! Wayne Williams committed these crimes, if not all of them then a majority of hem and most certainly the two for which he was tried and convicted.
NO! The slayings if young black boys did NOT "continue" in Atlanta after William's arrest, but in fact went from being an every 3-4 week occurrence to halting completely. This is not to say that no young black youth have been killed in Atlanta since. But they have not been killed in the systematic pattern of the Missing and Murdered victims, snatched off the streets in broad daylight and found floating down river in the Chattahoochee a couple of weeks later.
3. While I am sure some fringe elements of Atlanta's black community wouhave liked for this case to have ended in race war, the facts are that Arlanta was a MUCH different city then -- about 70 percent African Anerican and largely impoverished. The black leadership that was here at the time -- namely Mayor Jackson and Police Chief Reginald Brown --knew very early on
(thanks to common sense and the work of FBI profilers) that the suspect(s) were almost surely BLACK -- if for no other reason than because there was NO WAY WHITE GUYS IN PICKUP TRUCKS COULD HAVE CRUISED THE STREETS OF SW ATLANTA UNNOTICED! That it was "THE KLAN" is the most ridiculous, preposterous, false hope of the RACE BAITERS who just couldn't believe some
intelligent, college-educated black guy could be the killer! REALLY? REALLY?! And Willuams fit the profile of a serial killer the T!

See last tear's "CNN PRESENTS THE ATLANTA CHILD MURDERS" hosted by Solidad O'Brien for an EXCELLENT and unbiased review of the entire case complete with jailhouse interviews with Wayne Williams who is a manipulative creep and total nut job!
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Old 02-10-2012, 08:17 AM
 
Location: At your mama's house
965 posts, read 1,873,714 times
Reputation: 1148
Thank you to those who provided information. Let me make a few things clear:

NO, I don't think Wayne Williams is innocent. I certainly think he committed murder and is a sociopath and a weirdo. I just wondered if he was part of something much larger, so thank you for the clarification for those who provided it.

YES, I do question Sidney Dorsey's credibility in given his legal troubles and thinking that having Derwin Brown killed was okay. I wouldn't trust him behind a dime.

Again, very informative posts about a really scary time in Atlanta.
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Old 02-10-2012, 10:13 AM
 
Location: Metro Atlanta, GA
562 posts, read 1,117,501 times
Reputation: 721
Quote:
Originally Posted by Newsboy View Post
3. While I am sure some fringe elements of Atlanta's black community wouhave liked for this case to have ended in race war, the facts are that Arlanta was a MUCH different city then -- about 70 percent African Anerican and largely impoverished. The black leadership that was here at the time -- namely Mayor Jackson and Police Chief Reginald Brown --knew very early on
(thanks to common sense and the work of FBI profilers) that the suspect(s) were almost surely BLACK -- if for no other reason than because there was NO WAY WHITE GUYS IN PICKUP TRUCKS COULD HAVE CRUISED THE STREETS OF SW ATLANTA UNNOTICED! That it was "THE KLAN" is the most ridiculous, preposterous, false hope of the RACE BAITERS who just couldn't believe some
intelligent, college-educated black guy could be the killer! REALLY? REALLY?! And Willuams fit the profile of a serial killer the T!

See last tear's "CNN PRESENTS THE ATLANTA CHILD MURDERS" hosted by Solidad O'Brien for an EXCELLENT and unbiased review of the entire case complete with jailhouse interviews with Wayne Williams who is a manipulative creep and total nut job!
I do remember there was a small, fringe element of African Americans who were disappointed in the fact that Wayne Williams was charged with the crimes, even though all of the fiber evidence pointed squarely at him, and there was too much of a match not to convict him. As Newsboy stated, unfortunately, there were quite a few people in the community who had already made up in their minds that there was no way that this could be the work of another Black person. When Wayne Williams was actually convicted, that same fringe element of people were trying to say that he was framed. IMHO, he's guilty, and he's guilty of more than just two or three of those murders. The only other question in my mind is how many more of those murders that he was actually responsible for.
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Old 02-10-2012, 10:17 AM
 
705 posts, read 1,105,311 times
Reputation: 321
From the Wikipedia piece;

The criminal profiler John E. Douglas stated that, while he believes that Williams committed many of the murders, he does not think that he committed them all. Douglas added that he believes that law enforcement authorities have some idea of who the other killers are, cryptically adding, "It isn't a single offender and the truth isn't pleasant."

Atlanta murders of 1979

Wayne Williams - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Old 02-10-2012, 02:36 PM
 
663 posts, read 1,717,100 times
Reputation: 852
Quote:
Originally Posted by dculross View Post
If you were in LA why weren't you thinking about the LA serial killers? The Freeway Killers in LA killed children, many of them young hitchhikers, and killed way more than what happened in this case! I know why, it's because of the tabloid media in Atlanta, made worse now with CNN and the AJC the worst newspaper in the country! They are bragging about the case as if it's a good thing! And W.W. is guilty! Look up his birth date, he's a sign that is notorious for fibbing,not saying they aren't good people, they are, but they are what they are when it comes to stretching the truth! I have to LOL at the sherriff. So a convicted killer who lied and killed should be believed? Only CNN would make such a ridiculous assertion! Close thread.
Oh yeah, well how could you have been walking when you just said you were chewing gum at the time?! Hah! I didn't think so!

It's not illegal or anything to follow more than one news story at a time. The Atlanta murders were probably very interesting to people in LA given that there was some overlap in the killers being on the loose and the Atlanta murders went on for a whole year after they caught the LA murderer.
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Old 02-10-2012, 03:00 PM
 
Location: Savannah GA
13,709 posts, read 21,772,096 times
Reputation: 10184
GOOD THREAD: Reasonable questions, sufficient reliable answers, positive discussion. This is how it should be done. Everyone take note.
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Old 02-10-2012, 04:13 PM
 
876 posts, read 2,267,816 times
Reputation: 266
I remember that time as well, as a kid. Very sad to recall that era. I also remember on TV the announcer would say, "it's 10 pm do you know where your children are?"
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Old 02-10-2012, 09:19 PM
 
Location: Savannah GA
13,709 posts, read 21,772,096 times
Reputation: 10184
OH YES! Forgot all about "It's 10 o'clock Atlanta, do you know where your children are?" Every hour on the hour! Talk about pandamonium!
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