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The Atlanta Child Murders (2010)
Rate:
5
Viewed:
5/26, 5/26
5/26:
The only definitive book of the case is The Atlanta Child Murders: The Night Stalker written by
Assistant District Attorney Jack Mallard.
That being said, forget the rest of the books, movies, and documentaries that have been made since Wayne Williams
was found guilty in 1982 with the exception of
The Atlanta Child Murders, a miniseries that aired in 1985
although it's not quite accurate. This documentary is 100% shameful. CNN only did it because the headquarters
happened to be in Atlanta and they just wanted to be part of something special. Is Soledad O'Brien fucking
serious when she asked whether or not Wayne Williams was innocent? All viewers should ask themselves the
following questions:
1. Did they hear from all 250 witnesses during the nine-week trial like the twelve jurors in 1982?
2. Did they see every single piece of evidence during the nine-week trial like the twelve jurors in 1982?
3. Did they look over more than 1,000 exhibits during the nine-week trial like the twelve jurors in 1982?
Obviously not. To start with trace evidence from Wayne Williams' residence, fibers from violet and green
bedspread sheet were found on all of 12 victims, and green carpet fibers were found on 10 out of 12 victims.
More fibers were linked to four out of eight cars he drove, a yellow blanket under his bed, and his German
Shepherd dog. The Task Force attributed 23 out of 30 murders to him and thus closed the book on them. It's been
decided that Wayne Williams was ultimately responsible for another five murders. One victim, Patrick Baltazar,
contained two human hairs matching the hair on Wayne Williams' head as confirmed by DNA testing in 2007.
Most important was the green fiber because of its trilobal shape which looked like a Y, and it matched
exactly the carpet in Wayne Williams' residence, most specifically in his bedroom. This was confirmed
by three experts with the highest credentials possible, unmatched by anyone else on the defense side.
The green carpet ("Wellman 181b fiber of English Olive color") was extremely rare and had been sold in limited
quantity nationwide for just one year (1970-71). All experts said it would've been virtually
impossible for the fibers not to come from Wayne Williams given the high number of bodies containing
them. They were not able to find a similar match anywhere until samples were collected at his house.
The defense's best witnesses were Wayne Williams' parents. Obviously, they couldn't be reliable by doing
everything as possible to save him. Their credibility was shot thoroughly after being contradicted by numerous
facts not in their favor, but they still kept on lying. Homer Williams' testimony about the carpet being
installed in 1968 wasn't corroborated because the defense knew it was false and they had found somebody
who could contradict it [the State would use him as a rebuttal witness at the end]. In fact, the prosecution
produced a copy of the financial document, showing the green carpet was purchased on December 7, 1971, for
$1,973.88 as confirmed by the company.
There was a definite pattern with the murdered children. Once Atlanta's alert became full-on causing residents
to be more aware and stay home in sheer numbers, the target got switched to teenagers and then to young adults.
The modus operandi was strangulation with partially clothed bodies dumped in the woods. When an
official leaked information to the media (as reported in The Atlanta Constitution on February 11, 1981)
that law enforcement was collecting trace evidence (fibers, dog hairs, etc.), the pattern suddenly changed
to nude bodies being dumped in the river to wash away most of it.
The splash, which sounded like a body hitting the water, was heard at approximately 2:50 AM on May 22, 1981.
A body typically takes two to three days to float to the top after sinking to the bottom. When Wayne Williams
was on the bridge, there was no other car in the vicinity during the last 20 to 25 minutes. While there, he was
driving very slowly back and forth until stopped by the police. Although inadmissible, Wayne Williams failed
the polygraph test three separate times and showed deception when asked, "Did you cause the death of
Nathaniel Cater?"
On June 4, 1981, Wayne Williams called for a press conference at his house, said he had been interviewed by
the FBI on May 22, 1981, and made an incriminating statement that he was accused of killing Nathaniel Cater
and dumping his body. The problem? The FBI never knew at the time that a body had been dumped and that it was
Nathaniel Cater. Also, Wayne Williams gave five different versions of why he was there on the
bridge that night. Now, why would a supposedly innocent person do that when one version of the truth sufficed?
He claimed to be looking for a telephone, but there were already twenty-five phone booths, all visible, on the
road (SR 280) until the bridge, starting at Benson Poole Road.
Often, the victims' death resulted from asphyxiation, usually through strangulation. This was a very rare
occurrence for homicide in the Atlanta area which happened between zero and three times annually, going back
to 1963. Since Wayne Williams' arrest, there had been no strangulation death that left a body dumped by the
road or in the river or other bodies of similar pattern with same trace evidence. His target was "poor black
street victims."
Of the ten murders that were brought into the case to establish pattern, many witnesses said they saw Wayne
Williams associating with most of the victims shortly before they disappeared and were killed. They
said he drove a white station wagon although the color could be confused for light green because of the
off-cream effect. If we take away Robert I. Henry's surprise testimony (he wasn't known to anyone until after
the trial started), there was a witness named Margaret Carter who saw Wayne Williams and Nathaniel Cater
together in some park a week before the murder along with his station wagon and dog. Oddly, the defense
called a witness to impeach Robert I. Henry's testimony, yet he strengthened it, thus dealing a significant
blow to the defense's case.
A homosexual (one 15-year-old witness reported his penis being touched repeatedly by Wayne Williams, and
another said he offered $20 for oral sex), he frequented West End News and was a regular buyer of male nude
magazines. Nobody had ever seen him to be intimate with anyone of the opposite sex. A female companion was
called for the defense, but she actually admitted Wayne Williams had no girlfriends.
Two victims were stabbed and thus bled in Wayne Williams' white station wagon. Their blood type matched,
and neither was Wayne Williams' (DNA testing for it was refused by him in 2007 for obvious reasons). Deep
scratch marks on him from the elbow to the wrist on both arms were observed by four different witnesses, and
they were consistent with somebody trying to free himself from being choked from behind. He also attended
some of his own victims' funerals.
Overall, it took mere eleven hours for the jury to reach a verdict on both charges. This victory set a
legal precedent by creating a national standard in fiber methodology. Therefore, trace evidence could now
be heavily reliable in the absence of fingerprints, witnesses, and confessions. This case continues to be
studied in criminal justice all over the world. In 2006, trace evidence found on 12 bodies was reanalyzed
and thus verified, having been conclusively linked to Wayne Williams.
Wayne Williams' legal team couldn't muster a credible defense to pierce holes in the prosecution's
case and were often grasping at straws. Worst of all, he forced Al Binder to ask a female witness if she felt
he had killed before, and she responded: "Yes." Another significant blow was Wayne Williams falling apart on
the stand during second day by being combative and argumentative which would be referred to as "Williams vs.
Mallard: A Test of Endurance." Another attorney, Mary Welcome, made a fool out of herself by scoring negative
points consistently throughout the trial. She was inexperienced to begin with and may have been an
attention-seeker. Tony Axam, a feared attorney with extensive experience in murder trials, was dismissed in
favor of her.
At first, Wayne Williams didn't seem to fit the profile of a serial killer. Not long afterwards, he showed all
classic characteristics, thinking he could outtalk and outsmart anyone, but was dead wrong because facts
didn't support his position. Many of his statements were contradictory and used against him in the trial. In
short, Wayne Williams was a "habitual pathological liar." His lawyers could never rein him in, and he actually
testified in grand jury which was totally unheard of at the time.
A chronic failure who dropped out from Georgia State University, Wayne Williams never made income in any
venture whether it's radio, photography, or music talent procurement. All of the financing came from his
parents, having been forced to spend a lot of money ($80,000 according to Wayne Williams) on his radio
equipment, causing them to declare bankruptcy. He had choked his father and slapped his
mother and was often mean, demanding, and rude to them, cussing them out. As for the development and promotion
of musical talent, how could Wayne Williams do that? He had no knowledge, training, or experience to begin with!
Raised in middle class, Wayne Williams hated "low income, low education, street blacks" and made derogatory
comments about them. He once demonstrated to a witness how to perform a chokehold. Moreover, he had the
habit of impersonating a police officer, having been arrested for it in the past, and driving erstwhile
police cars or regular cars equipped with police equipment.
During the trial, the Klu Klux Klan (KKK) was briefly mentioned in a couple of sentences.
The Atlanta Child Murders brings up the boiler explosion that killed several children. At first, it was
secretly investigated (no lawyer on both sides knew about that until 1985) to determine whether or not they were
the cause, but the incident was officially ruled as a standalone accident. Furthermore, members of the KKK were
surveilled for some months, but their involvement with the Atlanta Child Murders case turned out to be
virtually zero.
All in all, The Atlanta Child Murders is a complete waste of time while
The Atlanta Child Murders: The Night Stalker must be read because it's absolutely riveting, being on
the same level as Helter Skelter, and the total truth of what happened.