Special report about Atlantas missing and murdered children

[Cainkane1]

Wayne Williams was eventually convicted of killing two adult men and tossing their bodies off of a bridge. He was the prime suspect in the murderers of scores of African American children and the investigation was closed. As a person living and working in Atlanta Ga at the time I have to take exception to some of the statements being made at the time. A lady whose son was murdered said that in 1982 murders of black citizens weren't taken seriously by the white people nor the police. Is that correct? I think not.

As a white citizen I was very concerned for the safety of the kids and I was really wanting the police to find the killer. Everyone I associated with felt the same way. The Mayor was African American and so was the chief of police in Atlanta at that time. Is this lady trying to say they didn't care? That has to be wrong. The FBI investigated at the Mayors request. Does this sound like no one cared?

Wayne Willaims maintains his innocence but the evidence against him was convincing. A person from whom he was renting a music studio reported seeing deep scratches on his right arm which criss crossed his entire arm and the scratches lookied like they were made with small fingernails. Fibers from his rug and hairs from his dog matched the fibers found on the children perfectly.

Therer was an investigation into possible KKK involvemetn but no evidence surfaced to implicate them. A white man in a African American neighborhood would have been too conspicious. Wayne Williams did it.

 

[funk de fino]

I watched a program about this the last day and it seemed to me that he definitely did it. He was a bit of a creepy guy in the interview also.

 

[wendyinthewind]

Then there is the fact that the murders stopped after he was arrested.

 

[Cainkane1]

Well my biggest problem was with the statements to the effect that said the white population didn't care. We did. We felt helpless and scared because there were rumors that if the suspect was white Atlanta would be burned to the ground. Not only were we concerned about the children we were concverned for our lives, property and jobs.

 

[Cleon]

The real issue is that Williams was convicted largely on circumstantial evidence; that's why lingering doubts have remained all these years.

Unfortunately for Williams, the recent DNA tests haven't been so circumstantial.

 

[wendyinthewind]

i was a child at the time of these murders, a white child, but i was scared nonetheless. It was a terrifying time for children and parents alike. white, black, it didn't matter to us, we just knew there was a maniac on the loose and it could have been anyone.

 

[Tacita]

I was a child back then and I remember it being all over the news. We most certainly did care.

 

[Cainkane1]

I was a child back then and I remember it being all over the news. We most certainly did care.

Well my biggest objection to these reports is people saying the white population didn't care when we sure as heck did care and saying that the police didn't care either because the victims were black when the mayor and the chief of police were both black. There was a sense of empending doom over the whole city in those days.

 

[girlyfied]

Well my biggest objection to these reports is people saying the white population didn't care when we sure as heck did care and saying that the police didn't care either because the victims were black when the mayor and the chief of police were both black. There was a sense of empending doom over the whole city in those days.

But there was a grain of truth to it. The murders began in July 1979. At that time, yes not many cared not even the police. By 1982 most people were concerned and terrified. The first 3 murders were of teenagers. A lot of people thought it was drug related or whatever. I think with the 4th murder, it became an issue because he was only 10. The increasing number of kids going missing and turning up dead affected whites and blacks alike.

Who is the woman you're talking about? If it's Shiela Balthazar, I'm not sure she was Patrick's stepmother at the time. In any case, he went missing in early 1981 not 1982.

 

[Cainkane1]

But there was a grain of truth to it. The murders began in July 1979. At that time, yes not many cared not even the police. By 1982 most people were concerned and terrified. The first 3 murders were of teenagers. A lot of people thought it was drug related or whatever. I think with the 4th murder, it became an issue because he was only 10. The increasing number of kids going missing and turning up dead affected whites and blacks alike.

Who is the woman you're talking about? If it's Shiela Balthazar, I'm not sure she was Patrick's stepmother at the time. In any case, he went missing in early 1981 not 1982.

They ears have erased the womans name from my memory.

 

[brenn]

The real issue is that Williams was convicted largely on circumstantial evidence; that's why lingering doubts have remained all these years.

Unfortunately for Williams, the recent DNA tests haven't been so circumstantial.

I'm not aware of any doubts from other than the racial and conspiracy lunatic fringe. Lots of murderers are convicted on circumstantial evidence - not uncommon at all.

 

[JWideman]

Sadly, it is a common belief among African Americans that white people don't care when a black kid gets killed. In a discussion of the topic, a man related to me the story of a pair of white kids that got killed by a car accident and it was the front page news, while black kids get shot every day and it never makes the front page. He insisted that it had to be about race, and not that someone getting shot in a violent neighborhood isn't exactly news.

 

[casebro]

This site: http://www.carpenoctem.tv/killers/williams.html goes in to the evidence. Seemed pretty good site to me.

Seems there were 63 possible murders at the time span. Some of the 23 don't fit so well, some of the 63 fit pretty good. My guess is several murderers. Whether Williams did any, or many, he was a convenient scapegoat to get the population at ease. No mention of similar murders after his imprisonment, only that 'they stopped' which I find unlikely. Big city, must have some strangulations of young people constantly.

Either way, it sucks to be Wayne Williams.

 

[girlyfied]

This site: [removed so I can post] goes in to the evidence. Seemed pretty good site to me.

Seems there were 63 possible murders at the time span. Some of the 23 don't fit so well, some of the 63 fit pretty good. My guess is several murderers. Whether Williams did any, or many, he was a convenient scapegoat to get the population at ease. No mention of similar murders after his imprisonment, only that 'they stopped' which I find unlikely. Big city, must have some strangulations of young people constantly.

The key is "similar murders". At the time the murders began, Atlanta was the Murder Capital of the World. There had been two high profile murder case in recent years before the Missing and Murdered case began. One of those murders remains unsolved. Unsolved mrders in Atlanta were not uncommon in the 70s and 80s. Now, how many cases of children who disappear then later turn up dead can you find during that time span or since? That is uncommon. That is what the case was about. That is what authorities mean when they say, "The murders stopped." Wayne Williams is not innocent.

If anyone is interested, Bernard Headley wrote a book about the murders, "The Atlanta Youth Murders and the Politics of Race." Another good book is Jac Mallard's book. He was the lead prosecutor on the case. Both books dispel myths about the case and are quite enlightening.

 

[danrush]

black citizens weren't taken seriously by the white people

How about black leaders who pushed for a white man to be found as the suspect? Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson helped to slow the investigation and gave Williams more time to kill more kids.

And why is that scumbag Williams still alive?