Atlanta police announced they will re-test evidence from the infamous Atlanta child murders case. The deaths of 28 young, black children and men from 1979-1981 terrified the city.
Wayne Williams, an Atlanta native who was 23 years old at the time of the last murder, was arrested and convicted of two of the adult murders and sentenced to two consecutive life terms. Police tied the child murders to Williams but he was never tried or convicted in any of those cases, and Williams himself maintains his innocence.
“We don’t know what we’ll find,” Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields said, “but the city feels an obligation to do everything it can to provide answers and will look through every box of evidence to see if something warrants closer analysis.”
Attending the press conference was the mother of one of the victims, Catherine Leach. She lost her then 13-year old son Curtis Walker to this senseless act. She thanked officials for their interest in reopening the cases and lamented that it wasn’t done sooner.
“I’ve been going through this for a long time. I have been let down,” she said. “It seems like the Atlanta missing and murdered children have been forgotten in this city. … I don’t think it’s right for all these kids to be killed in this city and nobody was concerned about it.”
She added, “I want some closure. I want to know who killed Curtis.”
The case brought national attention and it brought in stars such as Sammy Davis Jr., Frankie Sinatra and The Jacksons performed at benefit concerts to raise money for victims’ families. the murders spawned a 1985 CBS miniseries starring James Earl Jones, Morgan Freeman and Martin Sheen. Even today, Netflix’s second season of “Mindhunter” is expected to delve into the case, and Payne Lindsey — of ‘Up and Vanished” podcast fame — devoted a later project, “Atlanta Monster,” to the Atlanta child murders.
Willie Mae Mathis with a photo of her 11-year-old son Jefferey, who was killed in 1980 during a string of child murders. AP
In 1981, President Ronald Reagan’s administration allocated more than $2 million to help track leads and fund after-school youth programs.
Williams has always maintained his innocence, questioning the disappearance of certain evidence and accusing investigators of manipulating other evidence. He said Atlanta was “in a panic” over the killings and was bent on convicting a black man because arresting a white man might have sparked a race war and “Atlanta would’ve gone up in flames.”
Chief Shields made it clear that the reopening of this cold case is not to exonerate Williams but to give the family answers and closure.
