EP. 20 GEORGIA - The Atlanta Child Murders
53:52 Share

He's the most terrifying serial killer you've never heard of. Haddon Clark has confessed to several murders, but investigators say he could have over 100 victims. At the center of the mayhem, a cellmate of Haddon's that was able to get key evidence into Haddon's murder spree across America,

because hadn't thought he was Jesus Christ. Born Evil, the Serial Killer and the Savior, an ID true crime event. Premieres Monday, September 2nd at 9. Watch on ID or stream on Max. Set your DVR. Warning, the following podcast is not suitable for all audiences. We go into great detail with every case that we cover and do our best to bring viewers even deeper into the stories by utilizing disturbing audio and sound effects. Trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence, rape,

murder, and offenses against children. This podcast is not for everyone. You have been warned.

Our story starts in Atlanta, Georgia in the late 1970s. There was a lot going on in America at this time. It had been about 10 years since the Civil Rights era ended and tensions were still a bit high. Historically, Atlanta, Georgia has always had a significantly high black population, with African Americans making up the largest demographic percentage in the city. It was a place where many African Americans felt like they had opportunities.

a place where they could thrive, and really found opportunity to grow their wealth, their status, and their education. But this would all change from 1979 through 1981, when Atlanta's Black community was terrorized by pure evil. Within these few years, up to 29 people were found murdered around the city.

most of which were children. - There was a very specific victimology in these killings. All of the victims were black, most were children, almost all victims were males from low-income families, and the majority of them were killed by asphyxiation. And you'll see throughout this case

that solving the murders of these innocent children was not a huge priority to law enforcement in Atlanta or the media. And the conviction at the end of this story left a lot of people with unanswered questions, questions that still burn inside of those involved to this very day. This is the story of the Atlanta child murders, and you're listening to Murder in America. ♪♪

On July 28, 1979, a local man was picking up bottles and cans along Miske Lake Road in southwestern Atlanta. This road is usually quiet. It's surrounded by woods and in a pretty rural part of town. And as this man's walking down the road, he comes across something unfamiliar. He can't tell exactly what it is at first, but

But as he gets closer, he realizes that he has stumbled upon a decomposing body. The man immediately calls police and when they arrive, they are faced with a gruesome sight. It had been a hot summer in Atlanta, so the body was extremely decomposed. But they were able to tell that the body belonged to an African American male who was around 15 years old. As the police are walking through the woods processing the crime scene, they see something else in the distance.

As they inched closer and closer, investigators soon realized that they had just found another corpse. This body, however, wasn't nearly as decomposed as the first. - Two dead bodies found in close proximity with different rates of decomposition. This immediately led police to believe that there was a person or persons of interest in Atlanta that had been using the small wooded area as a body dumping ground. Their first task in the investigation was to identify the two bodies.

At this point in the story, all they know is that both victims were African American males, both around 15 years old. They were quickly able to identify the second body found in the woods as 14-year-old Edward Hope Smith, and they determined that his cause of death was a gunshot wound to the chest.

The first victim that they had come across, however, had died from asphyxiation and he was so badly decomposed that he was a lot harder to identify. Law enforcement start looking through missing persons reports to see if they can find a description of someone that matched their victim.

And they come across the report of 15-year-old Alfred Evans. He had gone missing shortly before the first body was discovered, and he seemed to match the description of their John Doe. But when Alfred's family came in to identify the body, they are positive that it isn't him. Alfred's mom said that the body laying on the table in front of her was wearing clothes that she had never seen before. So it simply couldn't be him. And I'm sure his family wanted to hang on to any sense of doubt.

because there's just no way someone could do that to their son. So they left the medical examiner's office without claiming the body and hoped that someday Alfred would come walking through their front door again. But that day would never come. About a year later, a detective working the case came across Alfred's dental records and they were a perfect match to their 15-year-old John Doe. Alfred Evans was the badly decomposed body found on Niski Lake Road.

And the very first victim of the Atlanta child murders. His body had sat in the morgue unidentified for over a year after its discovery. Now his family knew without a doubt that the body was indeed their beloved Alfred. And all of their worst fears had come true. But they just couldn't understand who would do this and why.

And while you would think that finding two dead children in the woods would be pretty concerning to law enforcement, it unfortunately wasn't taken as seriously as it should have been. In that specific year, Atlanta had an extremely high homicide rate, and the murders on Nisky Lake Road became some of the many killings that would go unsolved.

But no one had any idea that these two murders were just the beginning of one gruesome chapter in Atlanta's history. A few months after Alfred and Edward's bodies were discovered, a 14-year-old boy named Milton Harvey suddenly goes missing. Milton was last seen riding his yellow bike near a bank.

And after he failed to come home, he was never seen again. A missing persons report was filed, but Atlanta's missing persons unit was incredibly small at this point. And because Milton was a minority, the police department likely deemed him a runaway and didn't allocate many resources to finding him. At this point, two black children had been found murdered and another had vanished.

within just a few short months. And the stories of these children were so unreported by the media that the city of Atlanta didn't even know that they had a problem at hand. Later that year, the body of a young man was found near a garbage dump with his socks and shoes missing. After some investigating, the remains were positively identified as 14-year-old Milton Harvey, victim number three of the Atlanta child murders.

Weeks later, on October 21st, 1979, another young boy in Atlanta goes missing. This time, it was 9-year-old Yusuf Bell. He was last seen at a local grocery store running errands for his elderly neighbor.

Some witnesses saw little Yousef in brown shorts with no shirt on getting into a blue car. And again, like with Milton Harvey, law enforcement didn't put much effort into the search for Yousef and hinted that the nine-year-old was a possible runaway. Yousef's mom, Camille Bell, was absolutely devastated after learning of her son's disappearance. And after a while, she started to become angry with law enforcement because they simply weren't taking his missing persons report seriously. She stated in an interview, quote,

I was able to get a group of high school students that helped with the search because at that point, missing persons consisted of a sergeant and two detectives for everything in Atlanta. So of course we weren't a priority. For a child to be missing and for it to be important, they had to be somebody's child.

A few weeks after Yousef's disappearance, a janitor at a local elementary school was searching through a crawlspace and discovered the decomposing body of a young boy wearing brown shorts and no shirt. The boy had been hit in the head and strangled to death. Law enforcement was called to the scene and they positively identified him as nine-year-old Yousef Bell, victim number four of the Atlanta child murders. Yousef's mom, Camille, would go on to be one of the biggest advocates for Atlanta's murdered children.

She was constantly visible in the media, doing everything she could to bring attention to the cases of these missing and murdered children. And she was angry because law enforcement refused to inform the public about this killer. Atlanta PD kept trying to convince everyone that the cases were unrelated, not wanting to scare people into believing a serial killer was on the loose. And it seemed like they were more protective over Atlanta's reputation than they were over the city's children.

So Camille made it her life's mission to be the voice of these missing children, and she set into action demanding change. In one interview, she said, how many children do we have to lose in our neighborhood before the police departments say, hey, we've got a problem?

And with this, she and the other victims' families created the Committee to Stop Children's Murders. And from that moment on, any time another child was found missing, she would be right there at the courthouse, ready to fight and ready to be their voice. On March 4th, 1980, months after Yousef's disappearance and eventual discovery, a 12-year-old girl named Angel Lanier vanished into thin air. She was last seen by witnesses heading home from school.

but she never made it to her house. Her decomposing body was later discovered in a wooded area about three blocks from her apartment. When Angel's body was discovered, she was found tied to a tree with bruises and ligature burns covering her body. She too, like many others, had died from strangulation. Angel was victim number five of the Atlanta child murders.

On March 11th, 1980, less than two weeks after Angel went missing, an 11-year-old boy named Jeffrey Mathis disappeared after leaving a Star service station. A witness later came forward saying that she saw Jeffrey get into a blue car, remember, just like Yusuf Bell.

Tragically, Jeffrey's body was later discovered in a wooded area and he too had been murdered. Jeffrey was victim number six of the Atlanta child murders. Fast forward about two months. Another young boy in Atlanta named Eric Middlebrook is out riding his bike enjoying an early summer day. But no one had any idea that this would be his very last bike ride.

Eric was last seen riding his bike by a witness on May 18, 1980. The very next morning at around 6 a.m., his lifeless body was found by the dumpsters outside of a local bar. Eric's bike was lying just feet away from his body and his pockets had been turned inside out. He also had three stab wounds to his chest.

But the medical examiner determined that although he had been stabbed, Eric had been killed by blunt force trauma to the head. Eric was considered victim number seven of the Atlanta child murders. One officer on the scene named Bob Buffington said that he noticed a piece of red fabric on the bottom of Eric's shoes. When he brought the piece of evidence to his superiors, they mocked him. And for some reason, they told Bob that they weren't interested in testing the fabric.

One would think that after finding seven dead children across Atlanta, having no suspects in any of the crimes, that investigators would want to test any and all evidence. But unfortunately, they didn't.

Bob and another police officer named Danny Atkin knew that these child murders were connected, so they decided to write a letter to their superiors. In the letter, they described the obvious connections between the cases, and they tried their best to convince someone, anyone, to open their eyes to what was happening in Atlanta.

In an interview with Investigation Discovery, Bob says this. What was called a homicide book, just one paragraph about each victim. And we started running into more children who were being killed and dumped. We were saying this isn't right. I mean, we've never had anything like this. I found that there was a significant difference between victims.

the last two years and that year. And so I wrote it up in a letter and I sent it to our major. He said, "You'd like to work homicide?" And I said, "Yes, sir, I do."

He said, "Well, how'd you like to work auto theft morning watch?" He said, "If I see another letter like this, that's what you're going to be doing." And not only were the bodies of murdered children piling up around the city, but the killer or killers was starting to take their lives more frequently. And because the cops weren't taking these murders as seriously as they should have, many people started to wonder if law enforcement was responsible. Other people were questioning if the killings were the work of a single man.

Or worse, several men, cruising around the city, abducting and murdering Atlanta's children. Some suspicions even pointed towards the KKK. Nobody had any answers, and it seemed like everyone was pointing fingers. On June 9th, 1980, a 12-year-old named Christopher Richardson was playing right outside of his house, enjoying a hot summer day, when he vanished. His mother was devastated.

Her child had been snatched from her on her watch, literally taken directly from the family's front yard.

The Richardsons would later receive the tragic news that investigators had found Christopher's remains in a nearby wooded area, and this made Christopher victim number eight of the Atlanta child murders. And just like when investigators discovered the first two bodies, as they were assessing Christopher's crime scene, police stumble across the body of another black child, 10-year-old Earl Terrell.

Earl had disappeared earlier that year after swimming at the local swimming pool. And even though Earl's body was discovered with Christopher, who was victim number eight, Earl would eventually be considered victim number 12 of the Atlanta child murders.

On June 22nd, 1980, once again only weeks after the disappearance and murder of Christopher Richardson who was taken from his front yard, a seven-year-old girl named Latonya Wilson was abducted straight from her apartment's second story window by two unidentified men. Witnesses claimed that they saw a man carry Latonya from the apartment and placed her into a car. Later that year, when the city put together a search team, they discovered her skeletal remains once again in the woods.

Latonya was victim number nine of the Atlanta child murders. On June 23, 1980, the very day after Latonya was abducted, a 10-year-old boy named Aaron Wish was seen getting into a mysterious blue car after leaving the grocery store.

Aaron was never seen again. The witness's description of the car matched up perfectly to the car that multiple other victims were seen getting into. The very next day, Aaron's body was found underneath a bridge, and he too had died from asphyxiation.

Aaron was victim number 10 of the Atlanta child murders. It's now July 6th, 1980, and nine-year-old Anthony Carter is playing hide-and-go-seek outside of his house. It was a warm day. His family had just celebrated the Fourth of July, and Summer at home, away from the pressures of school, had been treating Anthony well.

Suddenly, during this game, he vanishes, and investigators later find his dead body near a warehouse, having been stabbed multiple times. Anthony was victim number 11 of the Atlanta child murders. And I want to take a second here to remind you, at this point in our story, it hadn't even been one year since law enforcement first found the two victims on Nisky Lake Road.

Within that year, 11 young black children had been brutally murdered across the city of Atlanta. And it wasn't until this point that the public finally started to pay attention. And the saddest part of all is that if these children would have been white, or if they had come from upper-class families,

Their stories would have been plastered all over the news as soon as they went missing. I mean, just think of the Madeline McCann case or JonBenet Ramsey. The entire world knows their stories and followed the investigations live, learning every detail of the disappearance online.

or murder. But when it came to the murder of 11 black children, at that time in America, people seemed to turn a blind eye. Many people over the years have wondered, why did the state of Georgia just kind of ignore what was happening to the children in their community? And the answer is simple. Atlanta was growing exponentially in the late 70s and early 80s.

and if the public knew that there was a serial killer targeting children on the loose in the city, no one would want to come to Atlanta, which meant less tourism, less investments, and less money for the city. So officials and the press in the city kept quiet for as long as they could, but the parents of the victims were the furthest from quiet. The parents just kept showing up and demanding change.

And eventually, their voices were heard. Finally, after one year of pure terror, of kids going missing and being slaughtered around the city, the police department decided to create a task force. And although the affected families, action groups, and the people of Atlanta were happy that they were finally being taken seriously, the task force wasn't a huge help.

because children continued to go missing. On August 20th, 1980, a 13-year-old boy named Clifford Jones went with his aunt to the grocery store to pick up a few items to make a birthday cake. Clifford didn't feel like going inside the store with his aunt, so he decided to wait outside. 15 minutes later, his aunt came out with the groceries, but Clifford was nowhere to be seen.

His body was found later that night, strangled to death near a dumpster at the large Hollywood Plaza shopping center. Clifford was victim number 13 of the Atlanta child murders. On September 14th, 1980, less than a month after Clifford went missing, an 11-year-old boy named Darren Glass is last seen getting off the bus. He was wearing a yellow shirt and khaki shorts. Darren's body has never been recovered.

but he is still considered to be victim number 14 of the Atlanta child murders. October 10th, 1980. Ten-year-old Charles Stevens was last seen sitting at home relaxing, watching TV. Some witnesses say that they saw Charles that day riding his skateboard in front of his house. His lifeless body was later found discarded in some tall brush. And like many of the other children, he had died from asphyxiation.

Charles was victim number 15 in the Atlanta child murders. On November 1st, 1980, a nine-year-old named Aaron Jackson disappeared while walking outside of the Moreland Avenue shopping center. His body was found the very next day alongside a riverbank. And you guessed it, he had been strangled to death.

Aaron was victim #16 of the Atlanta child murders. Mass hysteria started spreading like wildfire in Atlanta, especially within the black community. Parents were afraid to let their children leave the house. They wanted to keep an eye on their kids at all times, and they were constantly anxious about whether or not their own child would be next. Kids were getting abducted walking home from school, at the grocery store, and even out of their own front yards. It seemed like absolutely nowhere was safe.

It was also terrifying for the children of Atlanta. Their friends and family members were being murdered week by week. They had to hear lectures from their parents and teachers about how they could find safety in numbers and to never talk to strangers. At this point, the black community in Atlanta was fed up with law enforcement's inaction. Even with the task force, children were still being abducted, murdered, and discarded like trash at a very alarming rate. So they decided to take action into their own hands.

Black men and women began to walk the streets with guns and bats, questioning every stranger that walked into their neighborhood, any and everybody that they didn't recognize. Many people disagreed with these actions, calling them vigilantes, but members of the community were tired of letting their children get killed, so they took on roles as citizen police officers and patrolled the streets.

It was around this time that the FBI finally took action and got involved in the Atlanta child murder investigation. But at this time, it was November 6th, 1980, a year after the first two bodies had been discovered, after 14 kids had already been killed.

On November 10th, 1980, just four days after the FBI got involved, a 16-year-old named Patrick Rogers disappears. Patrick was known by his friends and family for his love of music, singing, and songwriting. He wanted to be a star. Patrick would perform in any talent show that he could across Atlanta, and people noticed him.

One day, Patrick told his friends and family that he came across a man who offered to be his manager, a man that wanted to help him boost his career. Witnesses say that on the day he disappeared, Patrick had told them that he was on his way to the recording studio to meet this new manager, but he never came home. Almost a month later, on December 7th, 1980, Patrick's little brother named Isaac was watching TV and he saw something that would change his life forever.

On HBO's Atlanta's Missing and Murdered, he says this. I was an avid news watcher, and they made an announcement that they had found a body in the Chattahoochee River. They kind of did a flash, like a body had been found. And then they went, I guess it was like a teaser. They just wanted to keep you watching, you know? And then it went to commercial. And then the phone rang. It was my mama. And she was like, That's him. What are you talking about?

That's gonna be Patman. I don't know how she knew it, but she knew it. And I remember watching it. I remember seeing them pulling him out of the river, and I think one of his feet kind of became exposed from under the cover. And I was watching it like, wow. And I still thought, that can't be him. Because he was a martial arts expert. They can't take him. Nobody can hurt this guy. And later that night, that's when they came and knocked on the door.

And it was that knock that you dreaded, you know? And so that's when we had become a part of a club that no one wants to be a part of. It was the club that families dreaded to become a part of.

But unfortunately, that club's numbers would continue to expand. The murders were far from over. Patrick Rogers was found in the Chattahoochee River, dead from blunt force trauma. Police thought he may have been dumped into the river from a nearby bridge. Patrick was victim number 17 of the Atlanta child murders. One day after Patrick's death, his little brother Isaac said that he and his friends decided to go to Miss Willie Mae's house for some candy.

Willie Mae was an elderly woman in the neighborhood that all the kids loved. That day, after getting their candy from her apartment complex, Isaac started walking down the stairs to go back home when he noticed a man at the bottom of the staircase. The stranger stared at Isaac for a second and then slowly started making his way up towards him. Isaac said that the man's ascent up the stairs was slow and deliberate, and he knew that if he didn't get help, he was going to be murdered, just like his older brother, Patrick. So Isaac decides to run back to Miss Willie Mae's for protection.

As he's banging on the door, he sees that the man is still coming for him. Luckily, at just the perfect time, Ms. Willie Mae opens up the door and Isaac rushes towards her. At this point, the man is standing at her door and he stares at the two of them for a few seconds before turning around and leaving.

Isaac was positive that he had just escaped the man that took his older brother's life. It had now entered the year of 1981 and the Atlanta child murderer had been terrorizing Atlanta's black neighborhoods for a year and a half now. A year and a half.

17 dead children and no suspects. And we understand that a lot of these abduction stories start to sound repetitive after a while. But it's important that we tell them to you anyways. These are children who never got to experience life because somebody brutally took it away from them.

So instead of glossing over their stories like the media did back when this was all happening, we feel like it's important to tell you every one of their stories. On January 3rd, 1981, 14-year-old Luby Jeter goes missing from the Stewart Lakewood Mall. He went there to make a few extra dollars selling air fresheners for cars. About a month later, on February 5th, 1981, his remains are found in another wooded area. Most of his clothes are missing and his body had been tampered with by animals.

During that same month in 1981, on January 22nd, 15-year-old Terry Pugh disappeared. And he was actually connected to a few of our other victims. He was friends with our previous victim, Luby Jeter, who had disappeared only a few weeks earlier. And he lived in the same apartment complex as the second victim, Edward Hope Smith.

Some sources say that witnesses saw Terry playing basketball right around the time he disappeared. A little while later, an anonymous caller phoned the police station and told them where they would find Terry's body. Sure enough, when they went to the location on January 23rd, 1981, they found Terry Pugh.

During the first half of 1981, the murders, as you can already tell, began to occur once again at an extremely alarming rate. February 6th, 1981, 12-year-old Patrick Baltazard is last seen at the Omni.

a place that many children frequented because of its arcade. The Omni was a massive complex with commercial business spaces, a hotel, restaurants, an indoor skating rink, and even, at one point, a psychedelic theme park inspired by children's shows. After disappearing from the Omni, Patrick's body was found about a week later on February 13th, 1981, hidden among the brush near an interstate.

Patrick had died from asphyxiation and was declared victim number 20 of the Atlanta child murders. - On February 19th, 1981, 13-year-old Curtis Walker was last seen near a gun shop looking for some work. His mother had told them that day not to leave the house, but wanting to make some money, Curtis slipped outside without her knowing, and he was never seen again. His body was found a few weeks later wearing just his underwear.

He too had been asphyxiated, just like every other victim that had gone missing and been found that year in 1981. Curtis was victim number 21 of the Atlanta child murders. In an interesting side note, while researching for this episode, we found an article published by the United Press International stating that, at the time, Curtis was considered to be only the 20th murder victim in the string of killings, as opposed to being counted as the 21st, which he actually was.

This shows just how confusing this whole time period was for those in Atlanta. Kids were going missing and hadn't even been found yet. No leads were panning out. No suspects were being looked at. In the same article, the author talks about the 400 citizens that were currently being recruited by officials to volunteer to patrol black neighborhoods in the city.

At this point, 200 volunteers had already been approved, but they were in dire need of 200 more. The heat was being turned up significantly against the killer or killers operating in Atlanta. But this media attention and the search efforts seemed to not stop the killings. On March 2nd, 1981, only weeks after the last victim was found dead, 15-year-old Joseph Bell went missing after playing basketball with a friend.

His decomposing body was later found in the Chattahoochee River, where two of the previous victims had been found. His cause of death was, again, asphyxiation. Joseph was victim number 22 of the Atlanta child murders. On March 13th, 1981, 13-year-old Timothy Hill is playing in his backyard when he goes missing. A few weeks later, he too is found in the Chattahoochee River, dead from asphyxiation.

Timothy was victim number 23 in the Atlanta child murders. And although it seems like the investigation was going nowhere, at this point law enforcement does come across a promising lead. Remember earlier in our story when Officer Bob Buffington noticed that piece of red fabric on the bottom of Eric Middlebrook's shoes? The fabric that, at the time, no one wanted to test?

Well, as it turns out, several more victims started showing up with similar fibers. The most common materials that were found on the victims were violet fibers, green fibers, and dog hair. And after further inspection, investigators were able to determine that the dog hairs were either from an Alaskan Husky or a German Shepherd.

Word soon got out about the new lead in the investigation and a local newspaper decided to publish an article on the discovery. Soon after this, it became clear that whoever was carrying out these killings had been keeping a close eye on the media because after the article was published, more bodies were being dumped in the Chattahoochee River. Investigators believed that the perpetrators started dumping the corpses in water in an attempt to clean the fibers off the bodies.

Which means that our killer was evolving. And he was evolving in more ways than one.

At this point, all of the victims had been children, but with the mass hysteria going around about a child killer on the loose, kids and their parents were being a lot more careful. Kids were traveling in groups, minding the city's curfew, and they were definitely not talking to strangers. And because Atlanta's youth was taking these precautions, it made it a lot more difficult for the perpetrator to lure in children. So instead, they changed their victim profile and began preying on young adults.

It is also possible that Atlanta was dealing with multiple killers, a child killer and an adult killer. It's usually unlikely for a murderer to change their victimology, meaning that if they like to kill children, they usually won't randomly start killing adults. But it is possible. In just one day after our latest victim, Timothy Hill, was found in the Chattahoochee River, another body washes up in the exact same place.

This time, it's 21-year-old Eddie Duncan. Some sources say that he was last seen getting into a car with a light-skinned man. Eddie was found only in his boxers and would be victim number 24 of the Atlanta child murders. The next victim to lose their life was 20-year-old Larry Rogers, who was mentally challenged. Larry was last observed wearing jeans and a windbreaker, and some witnesses said that he too disappeared after getting into a car with a light-skinned man.

On April 9, 1981, his body was found asphyxiated in an abandoned apartment complex. Larry was victim #25 of the Atlanta child murders. On April 1, 1981, 23-year-old Michael McIntosh disappeared after heading towards the Chattahoochee River. Witnesses say that he was trying to get to the bus station. His body was later found naked on the side of the river, and his cause of death? Asphyxiation.

Michael was victim number 26 of the Atlanta child murders.

This whole twist really shocked Atlanta. Now it wasn't just young children that needed to be afraid. It was young people in general. Even college-aged young adults were now dying at an alarming rate. And even though the attention of the nation was focused on Atlanta, the killer would not stop there. On April 22nd, 1981, 21-year-old Jimmy Payne told his family that he was headed to the Omni to sell some coins. He was supposed to meet his girlfriend that afternoon, but Jimmy never showed.

and

His body was later discovered by people fishing along, once again, the Chattahoochee River. Many of his clothes were missing and he, like many others, had been asphyxiated. He was also found with green and violet fibers on his body. Jimmy was victim number 27 of the Atlanta child murders. - May 11th, 1981, 17-year-old William Barrett heads to the McDaniel Glen Housing Community Center where he intends to pay a bill for his mother.

His body was found in a wooded area the very next day, and his cause of death, asphyxiation.

William was victim number 28 of the Atlanta child murders. And based on all of the murders and the evidence at hand, the FBI was finally able to create a profile of the Atlanta child killer. The profile suggested that the killer would most likely be black, single, he would be very interested in the media surrounding the murders, and that he would most likely live with his parents.

so law enforcement kept an eye out for anyone around town that matched this description. Almost all of our recent victims were now showing up in the Chattahoochee River. And now, with 28 unsolved murder cases to solve, law enforcement decides to set up surveillance along the bridges that cross the river, hoping to catch their perpetrator. They were pretty sure that whoever had been dumping these bodies was parking on the bridge, throwing the corpses over, and then quickly driving away.

It was a long shot that this surveillance would actually yield any results. I mean, there were dozens of bridges in Atlanta, and the chances of catching the killer in action were extremely low. But authorities were really out of options at this point. They didn't have any real leads, no DNA, and 28 people were dead.

It was clear that the killer was not going to stop until he was caught. So law enforcement committed to surveilling the 14 bridges along the Chattahoochee River for 30 days. On each bridge, authorities place officers at each end, some officers below the bridge by the water, and then FBI vehicles on the bridge just in case they come across their suspect. The Atlanta PD worked over 140 of their officers every single night for weeks on end without finding anything.

And on May 22, 1981, the very last week of the bridge surveillance, officers sat quietly monitoring the Chattahoochee South Bridge. The officers below the bridge had been hiding out by the water for hours.

And they waited and waited, trying to stay awake just like they had done every night for the past few weeks. And I'm sure that this night felt like every other. But they had no way of knowing that tonight's surveillance would change everything. 1 a.m. rolls around, then 2 a.m., then 3 a.m.

When all of a sudden, the officers hear a loud splash. Completely shocked at what just happened, they quickly radio up to the other officers that someone had just thrown something off the bridge and into the Chattahoochee River. Everyone's heart began to race and their ears perked.

This was the moment that they had all been waiting for. Soon after they received this news, the officers on the top of the bridge see the headlights of a blue car heading in their direction. Officers immediately move in on the car and pull it over. I'm sure that as they're approaching the vehicle, there are hundreds of thoughts running through their heads. Could this be our killer? Did he just dump a body?

Are we about to identify the man responsible for over 20 murders? They approach his window and the driver slowly rolls it down, but the man in front of them is far from what they expected. He has a bushy afro, glasses, and he looked a little nerdy. Nothing like a murderer. After looking at his ID, they discover that he's 23-year-old Wayne Williams, and the officer asks Wayne, "Do you know why we pulled you over?"

and to their surprise he replies yeah it has something to do with those missing kids at this point there are several patrol cars surrounding wayne's vehicle and the officers ask him why he's driving around at three in the morning wayne responds that he's a talent scout and that he has a mean

He goes on to say that the meeting was to take place at Spanish Trace Apartments, and he wasn't quite sure where they were located. So he was driving around trying to find it before the meeting started. Officers are immediately suspicious at this response.

Why would anyone be driving around at 3 in the morning when your meeting is supposed to start in a few hours? It just didn't seem believable. And more importantly, no one, to this day, has ever been able to find Cheryl Johnson.

To add to their suspicions, officers claim to have found a 24-inch nylon rope lying in the back of his car, rope that could have been used on a number of the asphyxiated victims. But Wayne claims that officers found the rope on the embankment of the bridge and planted it in his car as evidence.

Officers also claimed that Wayne had a pair of suede gloves lying in the passenger seat when they pulled him over. But Wayne has gone on to claim that he always kept those gloves in the glove box, and when the officers searched his vehicle, they placed them on his seat to make him appear more suspicious. But even with the ropes, the gloves, and the splash they heard in the water, it wasn't enough to arrest Wayne Williams.

You see, Wayne had waited on that bridge for over an hour as law enforcement desperately searched the river for a body. They were positive that Wayne had just dumped someone.

But after searching and searching on boats and land, they came up with nothing. And with no body, they couldn't arrest him. They also knew that as soon as they arrested someone, the media would go crazy. And so they needed to make sure that all of their ducks were in order before making an arrest. And with that, Wayne Williams drove away from the scene a free man. - Over the next few days, investigators continued to search the river for any trace of evidence.

And, lo and behold, just two days later, on May 24th, 1981, a body was found floating in the Chattahoochee River, about two miles downstream from the bridge where they heard the splash. They also determined that the body had been deceased for several days, right around when Wayne Williams was questioned on the bridge. In Wayne's defense, some experts believed it was in the water for longer than just a few days. Is it possible that investigators missed the body that night when they were searching the river?

Did it slip past them and go downstream? The one thing that anybody at that point could say was certain was that the discovery of this body was not good for Wayne Williams. Investigators were quickly able to identify the body as 27-year-old Nathaniel Cater.

He was found naked and his cause of death, like almost all of the other victims, was asphyxiation. He was also found with green and violet fibers on his body. Nathaniel was the 29th and final victim of the Atlanta child murders.

Remember the FBI profile that we discussed earlier in the episode? Well, after digging into Wayne Williams' information, law enforcement was even more sure that he was their perpetrator because he matched their profile to a T. He was black, single, extremely involved in the media surrounding the case, and he lived with his parents.

In addition to Wayne matching the profile, he also drove a blue vehicle that resembled a police car, which had gotten him into trouble a few years earlier when he was caught impersonating a police officer. Was this how Wayne was catching his victims? Pretending to be a cop and luring young children into his car?

If you remember, many of our previous victims were seen getting into a blue vehicle. Wayne Williams was also a freelance photographer and he had a huge interest in taking pictures of crime scenes. He even kept a police scanner in his car so he could always be one of the first photographers on scene. Many officers in the Atlanta Police Department were very familiar with Wayne.

because he was always lingering around. Once news got out that Wayne was a suspect, other people started to recognize him as well. Do you remember our victim Patrick Rogers who loved music and participated in talent shows around the city? Well, it turns out that Wayne Williams was actually the man who set up a lot of these shows.

Wayne also had a recording studio in his home and would put up flyers around town trying to get young people in his studio. If you remember, on the last day of Patrick's life, he said he was heading to a recording studio to meet his new manager, which in all probability could have definitely been Wayne Williams. A lot of people believe that Wayne Williams used his talent scout title as a way to lure his victims.

Officer Lou Arcagneli stated, "Wayne Williams was a total fraud. He had no contracts with recording studios. He didn't sell anything. He never made any money. He was using it as a cover. He may have been trying to make money, but he failed. And that failure was directed at young black men that he was into. I believe that he was a homosexual that hated young African American men." Another interesting part of this story is that as soon as Wayne became a suspect,

and his face was plastered all over the media, Patrick's little brother Isaac was absolutely sure that they had gotten the right man. Because the man who had chased him up the stairs that one night at Miss Willie Mae's house was undoubtedly Wayne Williams. Isaac is said that he finally felt like he could breathe again, knowing that they had caught him.

With all of this evidence piling up against him, police brought Wayne in for a polygraph. The results showed signs of deception when they asked him if he had killed Nathaniel, the latest victim. Police then got a search warrant for Wayne's home and what they found was somewhat incriminating. As they're tearing the Williams residence apart, they find a slapjack in the ceiling panels, which can easily be used as a murder weapon.

They also find a huge collection of pictures that Wayne had taken of young black males. In the backyard of the home, they find evidence of burned photographs inside of a fire pit. A neighbor later claimed that Wayne was burning stuff in the pit the night that he returned home from his initial questioning on the bridge. Could Wayne have possibly been burning photos of his victims? We'll never know. - As they continue to make their way through the house, investigators immediately notice something that stands out. The carpet in the home is green.

much like the green fibers found on several of the murder victims. As they walk into Wayne's room, they see that his bedspread is violet, much like the violet fibers found on the murder victims. And lastly, they see a German shepherd running around in the backyard, which was consistent with the dog hairs found on many of the victims. The fiber samples were taken from the house and compared to the ones found at the crime scenes.

So on June 21st, 1981, authorities arrested Wayne Williams for the murder of Nathaniel Cater and one of our previous victims, Jimmy Payne. Both of these men were found with fibers that matched the ones in Wayne's home, and they were both found in similar places along the Chattahoochee. As for the rest of the victims, there just wasn't enough evidence at the time to connect them to Wayne.

And although there was a sense of relief among the community, a lot of people were still perplexed. Wayne was being charged with the murder of two young adults. But what about the other 20+ children that were murdered? The prosecution was confident that Wayne was responsible for at least 10 of the murdered children based on certain patterns that they found in their cases. And they worked hard to convince the jury of this.

telling them that German Shepherd dog hairs were found on 18 of the murder victims, green fibers from Wayne's home were found on 15 of the victims, and violet fibers were found on 21 of the victims. In addition to this trace evidence, the prosecution brought forward over 100 witnesses that would help their case. Many testified that they saw Wayne with a number of the murdered children before their disappearance.

And one witness in particular was a friend of Wayne's. And she testified that Wayne told her that he hated the black street kids and that if they ever mess with him, he would knock them out within seconds by applying pressure to their necks. The prosecution had a strong case. And now it was time for the defense's case. The defense called in over 70 witnesses during the trial, one being Wayne Williams himself.

Wayne showed little emotion during his testimony, which didn't sit well with a lot of people. But Wayne wouldn't stay calm for long. When the prosecution asked him, "Didn't you start dumping your victims in rivers because of the publicity about fiber evidence?" Wayne started getting angry on the stand, calling the FBI agents "goons." After a few more questions, he abruptly stood up and yelled that he wasn't going to answer any more questions. He then yelled, "You want the real Wayne Williams! You got him!"

And this was exactly what the prosecution wanted. They wanted to show the jury that at any moment, Wayne could snap. And after 11 hours of deliberation, the jury came back with a verdict. Wayne Williams was guilty for the murders of Nathaniel Cater and Jimmy Payne.

And even though he wasn't charged with the other murders, the city had claimed to have caught the Atlanta child killer. And they sentenced him to two life terms, a sentence which he is still serving to this day. Days after his sentencing, law enforcement was quick to go ahead and blame Wayne Williams for 23 of the other child murders. And even though most people believe that Wayne wasn't the only killer responsible, the police department wanted to put the situation behind them.

Instead of looking any further, they took Wayne's conviction as a way out, trying to finally put an end to the public scrutiny that they had faced for years. In the public's opinion on whether or not Wayne was responsible for the murders was somewhat split. Many people in the community believe that Wayne Williams definitely had a part in at least some of the child murders.

but not all of them. But interestingly enough, 13 of the victim's families believe that he's innocent, even naming him the 30th victim of

of the Atlanta child killer. There was even information that surfaced after Wayne's conviction that proved that the police were withholding facts that a KKK member was a possible suspect in the murders. And it soon became clear that law enforcement had corrupted this case in more ways than one.

A confidential informant named Billy Whitaker came forward and stated that a Klan member named Charles Sanders had admitted to him that he had killed a number of black people in Atlanta around the time that the murders were taking place, and that he had even specifically admitted to killing one of the Atlanta child murder victims, 14-year-old Luby Jeter. Whitaker testified that Sanders got angry with Luby because he ran into his van with a go-kart.

When Whitaker asked him if he killed Luby, Sanders replied, "Yeah, I damn sure did. I killed the little black bastard." This was a confession to a murder, the murder of Luby Jeter, a child that Wayne Williams was accused of killing. That in itself cast some reasonable doubt. The Sanders brothers were also known within the circles that they ran in for keeping explosives, police uniforms, postman uniforms, and various other types of official clothing.

Why would a KKK member need all of these disguises? A lot of people think that they use them to abduct Atlanta's black children. And another interesting side note was that KKK member Charles Sanders had green carpet in his home and a dog, a German shepherd to be specific.

Law enforcement questioned Sanders, but nothing ever came out of it. And the tapes from those investigations were destroyed by Atlanta detectives after Sanders was cleared. People in law enforcement to this day are confident that Wayne Williams is their killer. But many other people believe that it was the KKK with the help of Atlanta PD. Some believe that law enforcement zeroed in on Wayne to avoid a race war between black and white people.

By locking away a black man for killing black people, they were able to avoid that war entirely.

And from our understanding, there are a ton of people in Atlanta that believe Wayne Williams is innocent and that the real killer or killers got away with these horrific crimes. It is interesting to note that the Atlanta child murders did stop after Wayne Williams was arrested. Did the real perpetrator stop killing after his arrest?

letting Wayne take the blame for his actions? Or is Wayne Williams the real Atlanta child killer? Those are questions that we simply don't have the answers to. But in the eyes of the law, their cases are closed and the Atlanta child murderer is behind bars. - And now to wrap this all up with another mystery. For years now, authorities in Atlanta have claimed to be testing new DNA on some of the original materials recovered from crime scenes.

But the thing is, they still haven't undergone this testing yet. The DNA testing effort was announced in 2019, then it was somewhat forgotten.

Then in early 2021, just this year, authorities claimed that the testing would be carried out with complete certainty within the next 60 days. Now it's June 2021, almost four months past the 60-day deadline, and the testing has stalled due to a quote-unquote unexplained funding issue. Wayne Williams still proclaims his innocence to this day, and his multiple appeals have been denied.

I guess the public will find out soon if this DNA will keep him in jail or exonerate him. But as of now, at this very moment when we are releasing this episode, we just don't know. Maybe the real killer is still out there living in the city, keeping his secrets to himself. He would be in his elderly years by now, probably above 60 years old. Maybe he died years ago.

and is already buried somewhere in Atlanta. Or maybe it's a group of men that got away with the string of these horrific crimes. That's what really burns you at the end of this story, what really sticks with you, the uncertainty of it all. At the end of the day, the child murders will continue to haunt Atlanta until the day that all 29 of those cases are definitively and undoubtedly solved. Hopefully we will have those answers soon with new DNA testing.

so all of the victims and their families can finally have some peace.

What's up, everybody? Sorry about the delay on getting this episode out. We actually just got signed to Audioboom as an official partner. So we've been working with our team there on getting a consistent release date and everything. We hope you guys enjoyed this episode. Courtney, it took you forever to write this. What were your thoughts? It did. There was a ton of information, a lot of victims, but I think we did a good job at getting everything in. If you guys want to help support the show, please consider becoming a patron. You can look up Murder in America on Patreon and...

Follow us on Instagram at Murder in America. We're also on Twitter as Murder in America. You can follow me at Colin Brown on Instagram. And Court Shan. Yeah, well, at the end of the day, guys, we always just want to leave you with a question. How much could it help if we could hear the voices of those whose murders were never solved? It always makes Courtney and I ask the same old question in our heads. The dead don't talk. Or do they? See you on the next one, everybody. And thanks for listening.