One of the most harrowing moments for children in the entire Southeast was the Atlanta child murders from 1979 to 1981.
In this article, we’ll revisit the saga and cover why this era of Atlanta crime resonates even more today.
The Atlanta Child Murders: What Happened?
In the late 1970s, Atlanta was a place of burgeoning hope and community after turning the corner on Jim Crow’s civil and racial strife that had swept through much of the Old South. Atlanta’s progressiveness was starting to gain it corporate and political clout far and wide.
Amid this optimistic backdrop, vicious crime began to pop up here and there. By 1979, Atlanta led the nation in overall homicides among major cities.
Between 1979 and 1981, nearly 29 African-American children, teenagers, and young adults—predominantly boys—were abducted and murdered in Atlanta. Many of these killings exhibited similar characteristics, prompting a collaborative investigation involving multiple agencies. In 1980, the FBI joined the case, which was designated ATKID (Atlanta Child Murders) in their files.
The investigation concluded after Wayne Bertram Williams was convicted of two murders in 1982, and authorities subsequently linked him to 20 more of the 29 killings.
Authorities at the time focused on Atlanta’s youth culture, which was often characterized by poverty and less than sturdy home circumstances. “Ghetto children are usually left alone with an overburdened mother, or an absentee mother who has the dual job of raising a family and earning a living, so they try to make their own family units among peers outside the home, on the street,” Charles King, director of Atlanta’s Urban Crisis Center, told the Washington Post at the time.
The Atlanta Child Murders: How They Began
The Atlanta child murders began in the summer of 1979 when young Black children and teenagers in Atlanta started disappearing under suspicious circumstances. The first known victim was 14-year-old Edward Hope Smith, who disappeared on July 21, 1979, along with Alfred Evans, also 14. Their bodies were later found in a wooded area in Atlanta with evidence of strangulation. This marked the start of what would become a series of disappearances and murders over the next two years, mostly involving young Black boys and teens from lower-income areas of the city.
The disappearances initially didn’t raise immediate alarm among law enforcement, partly due to the victims’ demographics. However, as the number of cases grew, patterns began to emerge. The victims were mostly African-American, predominantly male, and many were taken from similar neighborhoods. The children’s ages ranged widely, from as young as 9 to young adults in their early 20s. Reports of witnesses seeing some children last being approached by strangers or taken in vehicles contributed to growing fear in the community.
It wasn’t until 1980, when the body count had risen significantly and parents and community leaders began pressuring authorities, that the Atlanta Police Department launched a large-scale, multi-agency investigation. On Nov. 17, 1980, the FBI joined the probe, devoting more than 24 agents and other personnel to the case full time.
The case became a high-profile investigation known as the “Atlanta Child Murders,” officially named “ATKID” by the FBI. Over time, 29 cases were tied to the investigation, but despite substantial effort, the case proved challenging due to scarce physical evidence and inconsistent witness statements.
More than 50 witnesses testified in the case, but questions remained. Why weren’t law enforcement able to make an arrest? Many openly suggested that if the victims were white, the police would be galvanized and more determined to find the killer or killers.
“It’s like the Jack the Ripper case,” “Dr. Larry Howard, director of the Georgia Crime Laboratory, said at the time. He was referring to infamous London serial killer in 1900s century.
With metro Atlanta on edge, city officials put into effect a curfew for those under age 17. You had to be off the streets from 7 a.m. to 6 a.m. seven nights a week. Any youth caught outdoors after sundown were typically brought to the police station for questioning.
Where Were The Victims Found Around Atlanta?
The Atlanta Child Murders took place across various locations in Atlanta, primarily in predominantly African American neighborhoods. Here are some of the key locations where victims were found or went missing:
- Nisky Lake Road – Alfred Evans, 14, and Edward Hope Smith’s bodies were found here. Evans was clothed only in slacks and there was no sign of a struggle. Smith was on the way to his southwest Atlanta home from a skating rink when he vanished.
- Simpson Road (now Joseph E. Boone Boulevard) – Milton Harvey, 14, disappeared from this area while on an errand. His body was found Nov. 5, 1979, in the Redwine area of East Point.
- West End – Yusuf Bell, 9, went missing after running an errand near the West End neighborhood.
- Flat Shoals Road – Eric Middlebrooks, 14, was last seen working on his bicycle just off Flat Shoals Road, less than 1/2 mile from I-20 and near both Moreland Avenue and Memorial Drive.
- DeKalb County – Bodies of several victims, including 11-year-old Patrick Baltazar, 13-year-old Curtis Walker, Christopher Richardson and Clifford Jones, were found in this county. Aaron Wyche, who fell or was dropped from a 25-foot high bridge, was found in DeKalb County on June 24, 1980.
- Cheshire Bridge Road – Aaron Jackson’s body was discovered near this area.
- Kimberly Court Apartments – Timothy Hill’s body was found behind these apartments.
- Riverdale Road – The body of Lubie Geter was discovered in a wooded area off this road on Feb. 5, 1981. Authorities said he had been strangled, possibly in a choke-hold.
- Perry Homes – Latonya Wilson disappeared from this public housing complex.
- High Tower Road – Patrick Rogers disappeared from this area.
- Flat Shoals Road – Charles Stephens was last seen in this area. His body was clothed only in blue jeans and one tennis shoe when it was discovered on October 10, 1980.
- Sigman Road – On January 23, 1981, Terry Pue’s body was found lying approximately one half mile from Interstate 20 off Sigman Road in Rockdale County.
- Chattahochee Riever – Bodies of Jimmy Ray Payne and Nathaniel Cater were found near the South River along this area. Payne’s body was discovered clad only in red shorts in the Chattahoochee River on April 27, 1981. The autopsy said the cause of death was “asphyxia by an undetermined method.” Cater’s body was discovered in the Chattahoochee River on Sunday, May 24, 1981.
These cases spanned a broad area in and around Atlanta, from neighborhoods like West End and Capitol Avenue to outlying locations in DeKalb County and near the South River. The dispersion of locations contributed to the fear and challenge in tracing the pattern of these tragic events.
“The kids were taken because they were available and vulnerable, and the vulnerability was made possible by the poverty in which they lived,” Joseph Lowery, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said at the time. “As long as homes are overcrowded and children feel they have to get out to make ends meet and expose themselves and become street-wise, then society has to bear part of the blame,” he said.
Who Did It?
Who committed the heinous Atlanta Child Murders has long been a controversial issue and subject of much debate.
The Atlanta Child Murders case was surrounded by numerous rumors and speculations regarding who was responsible for the killings. Some of the notable rumors and theories included:
1. Multiple Perpetrators
There were numerous theories suggesting that the murders might be the work of a group or multiple individuals rather than a single perpetrator. This theory was fueled by the geographic spread and the nature of some of the cases.
Some community members speculated that there may have been a larger conspiracy involving law enforcement or local officials, suggesting that the murders were part of a racially motivated plot to harm the African American community.
3. Drugs and Gangs
There were rumors connecting the murders to drug trafficking and gang activity, with suggestions that the victims may have been involved in drug-related crimes or that gangs were using the children to send messages.
”We have no eyewitnesses,” Lee P. Brown, Atlanta’s Public Safety Commissioner, said at the time. ”We don’t know where the murders were committed so we have no crime scene at which to gather evidence, and we certainly have no confession.”
4. Pedophilia Ring
Some theories posited that a pedophilia ring could have been operating in the area, leading to the abduction and murder of young children. This theory was particularly prevalent due to the high number of child victims.
In certain circles, there were more bizarre rumors that included suggestions of supernatural forces or voodoo practices being involved in the murders.
The New York Times said at the time, “After months of investigating a case that now appears to be much more diffuse and complicated than originally thought, officials believe that as many as nine or 10 killers, acting separately and perhaps for different reasons, might be responsible for the disappearances and deaths of the 18 boys and two girls, who ranged in age from 7 to 16 years old. Two other boys, one 10 and the other 16, are officially missing and feared dead.”
”Very few of these 20 deaths are connected, maybe six to eight at the most,” Dr. Joseph Burton, the medical examiner of DeKalb County, told the Times. ”I’m not at all sure that we had a single killer methodically snatching children at the beginning of all this,” Dr. Burton said. ”But if that man didn’t exist then, we have created him and he is killing now. We are dealing with a suddenly rising number of cases that are connected.”
As for law enforcement, they pointed at one main: suspect Wayne Williams.
Wayne Williams
Photo credit: FBI
Wayne Bertram Williams was a 23-year-old freelance photographer and aspiring music promoter from Atlanta who became the prime suspect in the Atlanta Child Murders case.
Raised in the city’s Dixie Hills neighborhood, Williams was the only child of Faye and Homer Williams, both of whom were college-educated school teachers.
Williams was arrested in 1981 after he was connected to the murders through a series of circumstantial evidence, including fibers and hairs found on some of the victims that allegedly matched those from Williams’ home, car, and dog.
Prosecution witnesses testified that Williams often remarked that he didn’t like poor black kids and blamed them for many things.
Williams first came to the attention of investigators in May 1981, when police were conducting surveillance on Atlanta’s bridges, suspecting the killer might be dumping bodies in the Chattahoochee River.
Early in the morning of May 22, police heard a splash under the James Jackson Parkway bridge and later pulled over Williams, who was driving a station wagon near the bridge. Two days later, the body of Nathaniel Cater, a 27-year-old man, was discovered downstream, leading police to focus on Williams as a suspect.
Williams was eventually charged with and convicted of the murders of two adults, Nathaniel Cater and Jimmy Ray Payne. Although he was not tried for any of the child murders, law enforcement linked him to at least 20 of the other 29 victims based on fiber evidence, patterns, and circumstantial factors.
Years later, it was learned that Williams may have had CIA training of some sort, although he was long declined to elaborate.
His conviction led authorities to close the case on the Atlanta Child Murders, although debate over his guilt in the children’s cases continues. Many in the community and some experts have questioned whether Williams was responsible for all the murders, citing inconsistencies in the evidence and suggesting that other suspects may have been involved in at least some of the killings.
Through the years, Williams has maintained his innocence, and advocates for his case argue that the investigation’s focus on him may have left other leads unexplored. The case has been periodically reopened to review evidence with new forensic technology, but Williams remains imprisoned for the two murders for which he was convicted.
Lingering Questions
After Williams was convicted, some continued to hold the belief that he was innocent, arguing that the evidence against him was insufficient, and suggesting that law enforcement had wrongfully targeted him. These rumors often reflected the community’s fears and mistrust, particularly within the context of racial tensions and the handling of the investigations by authorities at the time.