Questions about the Atlanta Child Murders in the late 70's/early 80's (Sandy Springs: crimes, day care)

[Overcooked_Oatmeal]

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?

[LynnHarris]

If you do a google search you will find a lot of good online resources that covers this case from varying viewpoints and angles.

There are a lot of people who have questions about that case...and hopefully you will find the answers to yours. Good luck.

[Overcooked_Oatmeal]

Originally Posted by LynnHarris

If you do a google search you will find a lot of good online resources that covers this case from varying viewpoints and angles.

There are a lot of people who have questions about that case...and hopefully you will find the answers to yours. Good luck.

Thanks for at least being helpful. I am googling information, but I did want to get perspectives and information from people in Atlanta too.

[IntownHomes247]

I read a fascinating article a number of years ago, which I only barely remember, that made a very strong case against Wayne Williams having been responsible for most of the murders. I wish I could remember who had written it. I think it might have been in Atlanta magazine. From what I recall, the author talked about how the police had lumped a bunch of cases together that didn't necessarily have much in common.

I think the idea that Williams was an easy scapegoat is probably true. There was certainly a lot of fear at that time and the police would have been under a tremendous amount of pressure to close the case.

But it's been a very long time ago now. You'll probably do better to research the topic than ask for personal recollections. It's pretty unlikely that anyone on this board actually worked on the case or was in way related to it so that they'd have strong recollections.

Good luck!

[ATLTJL]

I was a small child living in Sandy Springs when it happened.

It was scary. I'll never forget my little 11 Alive plastic whistle that WXIA TV handed out to all of the elementary school students. It was an emergency whistle you could blow if anybody was trying to kidnap you. Nice lesson for a second grader to learn, don't you think?

I also remember my mother getting scared because these crimes were happening in black neighborhoods to black children and the black community understandably didn't think police were doing enough to stop it. I remember overhearing her say that some members of the black community were threatening to start coming to white neighborhoods and abducting white children if the police did not stop the murders. I'm not sure where she heard that, but I have been unable to find any reference to that particular threat, so it may have just been media hype.

To answer your question, the children of the metro area were petrified while this was happening. I remember lots of school assemblies teaching about stranger danger (they didn't call it that back then, but you know what I mean) and kids running home from the bus stop as fast as they could every day.

I also remember when my father got a new job and we moved away from Atlanta. Both of my parents were relieved and the whole time I was growing up they always commented on how neither of them liked living in Atlanta at all, despite the fact that we had a nice house and my father made a lot of money. They never mentioned the child murders specifically, but I'm sure that helped paint their opinion of the city. As a child, I didn't notice much, but even my sister and I picked up on Nashville being a much better city to be a kid and grow up in.

It's kind of strange that I ended up back here.

BTW, there was a really good movie made about this a while ago, I think in the mid to late 90s. I think it was made for HBO.

[GRS86]

Wayne Williams was actually only formally charged with a couple of the murders. The APD basically closed the book on the rest of the cases once he was convicted of the murders.

As Intown stated, there was tremendous pressure from the Jackson Administration to get these cases solved. At the time, Atlanta was an up and coming city with a blooming convention business. Back then, Atlanta was similar to what present day Charlotte or Orlando are today in that it was a major league city that was transitioning from being a regional city to a city more respected on the national level. Needless to say, all the negative publicity started putting a crimp on the convention and tourism business here in Atlanta. CNN was just getting off the ground, and in the Atlanta Child Murders, had a very compelling story, tailor made for a fledgeling 24 hour news network right in its own backyard. Also, lets not forget how image conscious that Atlanta has always been as a city. This was totally contradictory to Atlanta's "A city too busy to hate" slogan of the 1960's

However, the biggest reason why the Jackson Administration was trying to get the case closed as quickly as possible was that because of this, racial tensions had become very tender. In all honesty, Atlanta wasn't that far from having a race riot. Being that all of the victims were African American, there were rampant rumors in the African American communities, especially in NW and SW Atlanta that the kids were being murdered by the Klan. There was also a boiler explosion that occurred at a day care center at Bowen Homes if I remember correctly that killed three or four kids. A lot of people tried to link that event to the Child Murders, even though it was later discovered that there was no connection between the two. Again, the rumors ran rampant about the Klan possibly being involved. Because of all of this, not only was then Mayor Jackson under tremendous pressure from the business community to solve this, he was also under great pressure from the African American community to find the murderer and to bring the murders to a close.

Based on the technology of the day, they had enough of a match between the fibers found in Wayne Williams home and those found on the kids to make an arrest. I'm not definitively sure that Wayne Williams is the only guilty party involved in this, but due to the urgency of bringing all of this to an end, anybody who had the slightest bit of evidence against them, aligning with what the APD wanted to prove, was going to get convinced, point blank. Heck, if they had found an inflatable doll in the river that night, it probably would have been charged with the murders.

[StAubin]

CNN did a great special on ita few months back. Mayor Reed actually apeared on it and talked about his memories of the event.

[FlyiMetro]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

some members of the black community were threatening to start coming to white neighborhoods and abducting white children if the police did not stop the murders.

Thats interesting.

[GRS86]

Originally Posted by FlyiMetro

Thats interesting.

I never heard the angle that Black people were going to start going into White neighborhoods to abduct White kids if the murders weren't brought to an end, as revenge. Not saying that it's true or false, but as far as people that I knew were concerned, they didn't blame any particular person, or group of people for the murders. A lot of people of course suspected that the Klan was somehow involved, but I don't recall any ill will from African Americans as a group towards Caucasians as a group, as a general rule. If anything, most of the Caucasian community were just as bothered by the murders as anyone else.

[Caleb Longstreet]

Quick answers....yes, he did it....if he committed some, that is good enough. Most serial killers and mass murderers get convicted for only a few of their crimes, plea bargain for life, if possible for the remainder to save time and money. No DA is going to get the funds to try 30 cases. No need. You can only kill him once or incarerate for life....repetitive life sentences don't do much unless they are consecutive.

When he was nabbed, the crimes stopped almost immediately....either unlucky timing for him or??? The truth? As far as that dekalb sherrif, yeah i tend not to trust murderers.....kind of puts a dent in their credibility...don't you think?

Just spit balling here but a sheriff murdering a sherriff elect kind of sours ones trust in the local po,ice.....probably just me......williams did it, sentenced, never sees the light of day or freedom, case closed with the exception of all those families victimized by this guy and the loss of their loved ones.

That, unfortunately, only ends with their passing.


UOTE=Overcooked_Oatmeal;22910452]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?[/quote]