About 30 African-Americans were abducted and murdered in and around Atlanta, GA from 1979 to 1981. Of these 30 cases, about 22 were under the age of 16. The victims were often found killed by asphyxiation, sometimes stabbing. Often, they would disappear, sometimes from a very public place, such as a video arcade. Most of them were found in woods near Atlanta and then in rivers near Atlanta, such as the Chattahoochee River. A few bodies were found near dumpsters.
About mid-1981 they found a plausible suspect, Wayne Williams, 23 years old. At the time, the evidence against him seemed pretty compelling. He was caught driving his station wagon on one of the Atlanta bridges over the Chattahoochee River shortly after a loud splash was heard at about 3:00am in the morning. The car had turned around on the bridge and was driving very slowly, almost as if the driver was trying to be silent. When asked to tell police why he thinks he was stopped, his first statement was about the child murders. When asked about what he was up to, he claimed he was going to verify an address for a prospective appointment or audition the next morning. Really? At 3:00am in the morning? Williams was involved in music recording, media and television b-roll footage. They let Williams go. Later it was determined the person he claimed he was going to see in the morning was a fiction.
Two days later the body of a 27-year-old was found floating in the Chattahoochee River. Authorities also found fiber evidence at Williams' home which supposedly linked Williams to some but not all of the murder victims. Carpet fibers and the fibers of a dog. The police had created a profile of the possible murderer, and law enforcement felt Williams checked all the boxes. He had made some idiotic statements about black children, their mothers, and even about asphyxiation. After his arrest the murders stopped.
But I don't believe the circumstantial evidence mainly convicted Williams. His behavior after his arrest before his trial was beyond irresponsible. It was reckless, and he acted as if it was a joke. He called law enforcement names and didn't take the trail seriously. Maybe down deep he didn't believe he would be convicted, assuming he didn't commit the murders. He was in a sense, his own worst enemy, and he blew up at the jurors when he was on the stand at his trial.
When asked about the murdered children, he would say things like "their mothers are letting their children run wild." That's not what you say in the midst of a murder case, one of the largest in US history which was getting both national and international media attention. It goes without saying, Williams was convicted of two murders in 1982. Atlanta law enforcement decided that if he did two of them, he had done all of them, even though he wasn't put on trial for even half the child murders. The two victims he was charged with were 21 and 27 years old.
Late in the documentary, new evidence, particularly of another covert investigation, gets covered up. Turns out the police were also investigating white Klu Klux Klansmen who were also suspects. After Williams was arrested, many of the evidence gathered about KKK suspects was suppressed and wasn't offered to the defense team. Apparently there were even tapes of Klansmen which may have had bearing to exonerate Williams, but they were destroyed. Why would they destroy this evidence?
A developing theory, not proven, is that members of the Klan actually perpetrated the murders. There may have been sufficient evidence. However, the government, possibly from pressure as far away as DC, covered it up fearing if a Klansman was arrested there would be race riots across the states. If true, it would mean that Williams was a kind of sacrificial lamb to prevent a nationwide race war. But I don't believe that justifies convicting an innocent man and letting murderers get away with their crimes.
The other thing which is strange: that supposedly Wayne Williams, a guy about 5'7" in height and not known for using guns or engaging in combat, supposedly killed two people not only bigger but one was significantly older. The last victim found in the Chattahoochee River was far taller than Williams and 27 years old. Williams was convicted of killing a 27-year old and a 21-year old at the age of 23. The children could be more plausible, but other grown men? It's seems hard to swallow. Also, law enforcement decided, upon Williams' conviction, that the other 5 young adults and 22 children were also killed by Williams, sort of by default. Really?
Two things I gleaned from the documentary. Firstly, the evidence against Williams is pretty shaky at best and the state barely proved maybe he killed two people, one older and larger than himself. Secondly, Wayne Williams is not the most likable person. Even in interviews later, he sort of rubs me the wrong way. However, just because someone is a bit of a jerk, regardless of their race, that is not enough to convict someone of possibly killing 30 people. Well maybe his conviction stopped a race war! I don't think the conviction of an innocent man is ever justified. The trouble is, it could happen to someone else. If a member of the Klan was killing children, they should be charged and hopefully convicted, regardless of the consequences outside.
