All language subtitles for How.It.Really.Happened.S05E02_English

There was a bogeyman
amongst us.

And he was taking children
who look like us.

McComas: I noticed in the front
seat a pair of gloves

and a flashlight.

Pearson: He fit
what they considered

the profile of a serial killer.

Drolet: Little bits of evidence
just keep adding up.

Smith: How could he have done
all those things?

Hello, and welcome
to "How It Really Happened."

I'm Hill Harper.

It was one of the most painful
chapters in Atlanta's history.

Beginning in the summer of 1979,

more than two dozen
Black children

and young adults vanished
without a trace.

Days, weeks, and in some
cases months later,

they were found murdered.

Parents were afraid to let their
children out of their sight.

The city called for a curfew,
and a special task force

was set up of more than
100 investigators.

They believed many of
the murders were linked,

but they had
no viable suspects.

There were several theories.

Could it be a serial killer,

or someone in the community
the victims trusted,

maybe a police officer,
or maybe the Ku Klux Klan?

This is how it really happened.

Bottoms:
Children were disappearing.

They were walking to bus stops

or they had been out
with their friends,

and they were disappearing.

Good evening.

Another child has been found
murdered in Atlanta.

Man: What was tying them
together

were what you call victimology.

They were all Black.

They all had disappeared
under strange circumstances

and then been discovered
murdered.

Reporter: So, the search goes on
for yet another missing child.

The police would say
that they didn't know

whether they were looking
for one killer,

for multiple killers.

It'd had to be someone
who could move

within the Black
community unnoticed.

Procopio: Oh, it was
frustrating as hell.

No crime scene. No evidence.
No witnesses.

Automatically
people thought Klan.

You went through
all these theories --

that it was the Klan,

that is was the police
or the authorities --

someone who the kids
may have known

or someone
who the kids didn't fear.

How is he getting them
in the car?

How is this person getting
control over these children?

The last victims were found
in a body of water.

That was an obvious attempt
to wash away any evidence.

The guy is probably
throwing them off of bridges.

And they said, "We want
to watch the bridges."

And as luck would have it,
last night, last bridge,

there's a splash.

[ Water splashes ]

He looks up.

It was an old station wagon,
white in color.

Droplet: It looked like
it was starting from

a stopped position.

So the car goes to the end
of the bridge.

Little does he know
there's a police car

hiding in the bushes.

And the other surveillance team

watched him go up and turn
around at the Starvin' Marvin.

That's when the pursuit cars
had pulled him over.

[ Siren wailing ]

Reporter: He was first detained
early on the morning of May 22nd

while driving over a bridge
across the Chattahoochee River.

I said,
"My name's agent McComas.

Do you know why
we've stopped you?"

He volunteered immediately,

"I'll bet this is about
those boys, isn't it?"

Which was a very
interesting thing to say.

And he expressed a displeasure

in the media coverage
of the killings.

Reporter: Yesterday,
there was much press coverage

of the cases.

We believe that the murderer
was paying

very, very close attention
to all the media coverage.

It really got my attention.

I said, "Can we have consent
to search your car?"

I noticed in the front seat

a pair of gloves
and a flashlight.

And as I looked in the back
on the floorboard,

I noticed that there was a cord
that was knotted at both ends.

About two foot long length,
which some people might think

you could use as a ligature
for strangling somebody.

That's when I ask him
if he would mind

getting in the car
with me to talk a minute.

And he was very pleasant.

He told me that he was
a talent scout.

He said he had an appointment
the next morning

with two sisters,
Cheryl and Barbara Johnson

that lived at Spanish
Trace apartments.

He didn't know exactly
how to find it.

And I said, "So let me
get this right.

"You are out at 3:00
in the morning

"trying to determine
where an address is

so that you won't be late?"

Drolet: Not a good explanation.

McComas: He denied throwing
anything over.

He denied stopping.

All they had was they heard
this noise.

[ Water splashes ]

They believe it to be a body,
but they don't know.

Procopio: It's two hours.

We're pushing the envelope
in detaining him.

Glover: And they didn't think
they had enough to arrest him.

And so, they let him go.

When he left, I looked
around and asked,

"Where's the stuff
you took out of the car?"

Didn't take the rope.
Didn't take anything.

McComas: Why it didn't happen,
I-I don't know.

Huge mistake.

Reporter: The body of
Nathaniel Cater was found

just down
from that same bridge.

Reporter 2: Nathaniel Cater
fits the profile

of the other murdered Blacks.

Like 17 of the victims,
he was asphyxiated.

The main exception is he's older
than the other victims.

He was 27.

The ages of the victims
are seemingly getting older.

The fact of the matter is
we've had five young adults

who have been killed.

Peterson: Nathaniel Cater was
nude when pulled from the river.

In his hair, there was a layer
of silt against the scalp,

and there were fibers still
entrapped inside that silt.

There was dog hair,
violet acetate,

the green carpet fiber,
all in his head hair.

That same trace evidence
was being turned up

on one more than one victim.

At that point, we knew we had
to talk to the guy

that was on the bridge
that night.

They think that the person had
thrown a body off the bridge.

Reporter: Many Atlanta parents
aren't letting their children

out of their sight
for one second,

with the exception
of school hours.

What we had here
was a predator.

These children trusted
whoever they went to.

And by the time they figured out
that they were not safe,

they were already unable
to do anything about it.

Now let us update you
on the missing

and murdered children
in Atlanta

and the possibility
of a suspect.

Before that night,
when he was stopped

on the James Jackson bridge,
we had no viable suspects.

Reporter:
We're all down here standing

outside the Federal Building.

And from what we understand,
they have a suspect in custody

that they're now interviewing.

Procopio: He's not very tall.

He's not very threatening
looking.

There's no muscular
development at all.

Who the hell is this guy?

They ask him if he'd like
to take a lie detector test,

and he says, "Of course."

Dick Rackleff was one of
our very first polygraphers,

one of the best of the best.

Rackleff: Well, his personality
was very, very interesting.

He was very composed,
very calm.

"Here's what I wanna ask you.

"Did you cause the death
of Nathaniel Cater?

And did you throw his body
into the Chattahoochee River?"

"No."

Asked him if he was
nervous or anxious.

"No."

His hands were sweating
profusely

and left little pools of water

where he had been
holding his hands.

Rackleff:
And we ran three charts.

It showed deception.

He fails it on all the key
questions,

such as "Did you
murder Nathaniel Cater?"

"Did you drop the body
of Nathaniel Cater

in the Chattahoochee River?"

And then he said,
"Am I under arrest?"

They brought him in
for questioning

to get him away from the house

and served a search warrant
at the same time.

That's when the first search
of the home occurred

and also a search
of the station wagon.

Reporter: Have you heard about
the raid

on the suspect's home tonight?

Woman: We understand there was
a raid this evening.

They're not making
any further comment about it.

Of course, none of the evidence
that had been seen the night

he was stopped
on the bridge was still there.

The rope and the -- the gloves.

Drolet:
Those items were all missing.

McComas: Entering the house,

the first thing I'm looking for
is a green carpet.

Reporter: For months now,

the lab has
gathered mounds of possible

evidence in these cases --

everything from carpet
and blanket fibers to dog hair.

McComas:
The green carpet fiber --

I mean, I'd seen it so many
times from different victims.

And there was a green carpet
in Williams' bedroom

and throughout the house.

Reporter: A search of the home
of the suspect

in Northwest Atlanta tonight
yielded bags of evidence.

But we were advised
that he was not going

to be arrested that night.

We have not nor do we intend
to make an arrest.

For 11 hours last night,
Federal, State,

and local authorities thought
that they had a man responsible

for some of the 28 murders
of young Blacks in Atlanta.

Peterson: But we needed more
information

about the green carpet.

The evidence was not fully
developed by any stretch.

Reporter: The individual,

whose name is
not being released by the media

because no criminal charges
were filed against him,

was returned
to his Northwest Atlanta

home early in the morning.

Surprisingly, he gets home,

and he decides he's going
to call a press conference.

He was telling his side
of the story.

Drolet: But he says "You can't
film me, so don't show my face."

The cameras are turned
on the reporters.

It was just totally bizarre.

Glover: He passed out résumés
to the press that morning,

basically identifying himself.

Droplet: And everybody looked at
that résumé and just thought,

"What is this guy all about?"

Suggs: Wayne Bertram Williams
was a 23-year-old

part-time photographer,

part-time music producer
who lived with his parents.

Baltazar: Wayne Williams?

A young Black man
doing all these killings?

We just say, "No."

Brooks:
There's no way in the world

he could be involved
in anything like this.

I mean, you know,
he's a perfect kid.

Procopio: Only child.

Mother Faye, father Homer,

both educators
in the Atlanta school system.

Smith: He had built his radio
station in his parents' home.

small-Watt station,

but he'd interviewed local
politicians and celebrities.

At the time, I remember being
extremely impressed

that a 13-year-old kid

would have
a neighborhood radio station.

He was even featured
in "Jet" magazine

as, you know,
this young kind of wunderkind.

He was kinda known as kinda
like this wannabe everything.

He had been a cameraman
stringer.

It would not be unusual for him
to show up at crime scenes.

Reporter: This film of
a pre-dawn house fire

was shot by Wayne Williams
and aired on Action News

in October of 1978.

And most recently, Williams says
he has acted as a talent scout.

Williams: We have a young group
that we've been putting together

since 1977,
a group called Gemini.

So therefore, he came in contact
with young boys.

Because Wayne, at the time,

was trying to put together
groups like a Jackson 5.

So he's going around passing out
his flyers, you know,

"Can you sing or play
an instrument?"

You know, "Call me."

The kids knew him.

He was offering them stardom.

Well, police don't say he's
a suspect or a primary suspect,

but the task force is still
keeping an eye on Williams.

Williams: It was a mob scene.

There were literally
200 or 300 people

clustered around the house.

Reporter:
Reporters and photographers

have been camped out
across the street

from this person's home
in Northwest Atlanta.

I did not think that this case

would get that far
in my naivete.

And I was afraid, you know,
my God.

"Wayne, are you the monster?"

Woman: ♪ Jesus ♪

Reporter: At the Mount
Olive Baptist church,

friends and family gather to pay
their last respects

to 27-year-old
Nathaniel Cater.

The family and the authorities

are all asking
the same questions now --

why did it happen?

Who murdered him?

We needed to make sure
Wayne Williams

doesn't get out of sight.

Reporter:
When Wayne left briefly,

a trail of cars
filled with local

and federal agents
followed him.

They're always present
outside the home.

This kind of circus atmosphere
prevailed for 10 days or so.

Ford: He liked messing
with the cops.

He decided he was gonna
just drive

into the international airport.

The helicopter had to pull off
and go away

because they couldn't follow him
into the airspace.

That takes a lot of nerve.

Our client's life and the lives
of his family and friends

have become
a virtual nightmare.

Hey, man, I'm asking you,
are you gonna quit following me

or not?

My orders are to stay
with the police.

I'm not following you.
I'm following them.

Well, hey, I'm telling you
to quit followin' me.

'Cause I'm saying at this point,
you're followin' me,

and you're on private property.

And if I were you,
I'd get the hell off.

They basically had him
under surveillance

while they were
building the case.

He fit the FBI profile.

Single, Black, male, educated,

living with his parents,
highly intelligent.

A police wannabe.

In 1976, he showed up at a scene
of a traffic wreck

and he's taking pictures

and he's got a blue light
and a siren,

so they arrested him for
impersonating a police officer.

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
Describes Wayne.

But you can't use
a profile in court.

We had him on the bridge

when the body
of Nathaniel Cater was thrown.

Man: He just says, "I'm looking
for Cheryl Johnson."

She never surfaced.

The phone number that he said
he called for another business.

What was he doing out at 3
in the morning?

Reporter: Top law enforcement
officials met with the governor

of Georgia, Mr. Busbee,

at the governor's residence
on Friday,

at the request
of Vice President Bush.

To try to persuade Mr. Slaton,

who was the district attorney,
to charge Wayne.

Man: Louis Slaton was there,
the head of the GBI was there.

McMichael: And at that time,

Wayne was
still under surveillance,

cameras around his house
And everything.

We're all kind of watching

Wayne to see if he was going
to do anything outrageous.

Reporter: That's when Wayne
slipped past the police.

People tried to chase.
He was enjoying this.

He ended up in front of the home
of police commissioner

Lee Brown.

I think he got a kick out
of sort of toying

with the folks
who were surveilling him.

Reporter: Crime lab technicians

are finding
promising similarities

between fibers found
in Williams' house

and fibers found on the bodies
of some of the child victims.

I threw a sample of the green
carpet from the bedroom

under the microscope,
and it just was -- there it is.

And then there was a source
of dog hair.

There in the back of the house,
tied up is Sheba,

the family German shepherd.

Peterson: And then the suspect's
bed was a violet

and green bedspread.

With the bridge incident
and with the strength of hairs

and fibers,
I knew we had a good case.

There was blood found
in the backseat

of the station wagon.

They were able to dig down
and cut out little pieces

of the upholstery
from the backseat.

There were two different types
of blood.

The blood was still fresh.

Man: At approximately 5:00 P.M.
this date,

Wayne Williams was taken into
custody on an arrest warrant.

We picked the best two cases
that we could tie to

the James Jackson Parkway Bridge
where we found Williams.

Man: Charging him with
the criminal homicide

of Mr. Nathaniel Cater.

Wayne Williams was subsequently
then charged

with the homicide
of Jimmy Ray Payne.

They were both found in close
proximity to that bridge.

Reporter: When Cater was found,
he was nude.

Payne was clad
in only undershorts.

They were in the river,
but they said they found

some of those fibers
on those two bodies.

Peterson: The fibers were
adherent to the briefs.

Both Jimmy Ray Payne
and Nathaniel Cater,

they both had the green
carpet fiber that matched.

I remember the news flash,
"suspect," da, da, da, da, da.

And I saw him.

Reporter: Williams was
the hottest possible suspect.

And I started
putting stuff together

'cause I remember the guy.

Welcome back to
"How It Really Happened."

Wayne Williams was charged
with killing two men

whose bodies
were discovered floating

in the Chattahoochee River.

Unique fibers found on
the victims

matched fibers found
in Wayne's home.

Still, doubts were beginning
to emerge

about how these cases were
connected to the other murders.

Most of the victims
were children.

Then there was Wayne himself,

small in stature
and soft-spoken.

Would he be physically
able to overpower

and kill all of the victims
by himself?

Or was somebody else
still out there?

Reporter: According to public
safety commissioner Lee Brown,

the special task force is still
working under the assumption

that there is more
than one person involved.

Our resolve is to continue
our efforts

until we bring closure
to all of the cases.

Reporter: Atlanta's mayor
Maynard Jackson

and President Reagan
met at the White House

to discuss the murders.

During that meeting,
Maynard Jackson was told

that the FBI would stay
with the case

until all the murders
were solved.

Reporter:
Under very tight security,

23-year-old accused killer
Wayne Williams was whisked

into an Atlanta
Fulton County superior court,

where he pleaded innocent
to two counts of murder.

Nobody saw Wayne Williams
commit any kind of criminal act.

All they had was dustbusters,
you know,

little bits of -- of fibers.

Who thought about fiber in 1981
as a way to catch a criminal?

We had no fingerprints.

We didn't have DNA at the time.

I could not believe that
this little guy could have

physically pulled that body
out of that station wagon

and thrown it in that river.

Wayne's defense was
"I did not do it.

You've got the wrong guy."

The FBI thought he fit
what they considered

the profile
of a serial killer.

When the trial first starts,
people are wondering

how could this be about
the Atlanta child murders?

Because they're charging him

with the murder
of these two adults.

I was Wayne's first attorney.

Miss Welcome had not had
much criminal law experience,

particularly in
the homicide realm.

Mr. Binder saw himself
as assisting her,

but in truth he was
the principle attorney,

and then I was there
to help him.

Man: Is this case winnable?

Oh, yes, sir.

Everybody, to my knowledge,
was pro bono,

meaning, of course,
no money, no fee.

And Wayne Williams --
he himself had no resources.

We have no money
to get experts.

We have no money to hire people
to do the fiber analysis.

Reporter: Prosecutors say
the fibers and dog hairs

taken from Williams' home

match those found on the bodies
of his two alleged victims.

The crown jewel of
the physical evidence

that links the cases together
is the green carpet fiber.

That green carpet is made up
of a very unusual fiber.

When you look at it
on cross section,

has two very large lobes
and then one very short lobe.

Whoever made it was trying to
get around Dupont's patent

on a trilobal-shape
carpet fiber.

Drolet: It ends up that
the Wellman Company

had made this fiber
in a very small quantity.

Reporter: Only a little more
than 1,500 square yards

of the carpet
was sold in the Southeast

during the first
six months of 1971.

82 rooms of carpet
for the entire state of Georgia.

Three rooms were
in the Williams' home.

Both Jimmy Ray Payne
and Nathaniel Cater,

they both had the green Wellman
181b carpet fiber that matched.

It almost became a slam dunk

because
this type of fiber was so rare.

So, it was all
right there in the house.

There were these violet colored
fibers from his bedspread.

He had a German shepherd.
That dog fiber was there.

They found some of those similar
fibers on those two bodies.

We ended up
with three fiber experts,

all concluding that if you had
all three of these fibers,

it is virtually impossible

that these victims
were not in contact with

Wayne Williams
immediately prior to death.

You think about
the Atlanta child murders,

and he was only charged
with the murders of two adults.

But they did bring evidence

for 10 other murders
to the trial.

They were part of a pattern
and logically connected,

particularly by
the fiber evidence.

Reporter: Judge Clarence Cooper
ruled in favor

of admitting evidence
from 10 additional

Atlanta youth murder cases.

The 10 children victims that
the prosecution contended

were linked
through fiber evidence.

But for some reason,
they wouldn't charge

Wayne with them.

Smith: It was in this instance

that the Atlanta child murders
entered the courtroom.

There were 700 fibers from

18 sources tied to Williams.

Not only are there all these
fibers from the house,

but they find the fibers
from the car

match fibers found on many of
the most recent victims.

Before they had
the station wagon,

the Williams family had a red
Ford LTD.

Eric Middlebrooks,
when he was murdered,

he has a clump of red fiber
stuck in his shoe.

Detective Buffington notices it
in the band of the shoe.

It matches the interior
carpeting of the red

Ford LTD that the Williams
family is using at the time

that Eric Middlebrooks
is murdered.

These were little bits
of evidence

that just keep adding up.

We had a couple
medical examiners

who said if you're
strangling somebody

and asphyxiating them
from behind,

they are going
to grab your arms.

They are going to reach over
and --

and claw as they're dying.

We had four witnesses
who had seen scratches

on Wayne Williams.

Reporter: Bennett told the jury
he noticed some scratches on

Williams' arm
and face one day.

Williams told him
his dog bit him.

Kathy Andrews,
a record studio owner,

told the jury both arms were
scratched from the elbow down.

Rogers: I was over in
the Southeast side of town.

We were staying at
Thomasville Heights apartments.

I was more than glued
to the television.

Isaac, he was the little brother
of Patrick Rogers.

My brother was kidnapped

and murdered
from these apartments.

My brother Patrick,
not only did he sing,

he'd actually write songs.

Pretty good at it, too.

Butts: I know that Patrick
had stated to me

that he was working with someone
that was going to manage them.

I don't know who it was,
whether it was

Wayne Williams or not.

Did you ever meet any of
the young men who were victims?

No, I did not.

-Never met them once?
-No.

In our apartment complex,
there was a lady,

Miss Willie Mae, who sold
the sweets and treats and stuff.

One night, it was me
and my two cousins.

We went together to
Miss Willie Mae's apartment.

A gentleman steps
from behind the wall.

He was blocking our exits off,
and we started screaming.

And my two cousins took off.

And I turned around,
and I ran back

to Miss Willie Mae's door,
and I'm beating, I'm beating.

I say he got within maybe
four to five feet

of Miss Willie Mae and I.

And then he looks back
over at me,

and then he steps off the porch

and disappears
around the building.

And I remember being home,
watching the news.

Reporter: Wayne Williams emerged
from his parents' house

only once today.

Same bushy afro, glasses,
buttoned-down shirt.

Nobody else knew it, but I knew
that they had the guy.

Anybody who knows me, come on.

This -- this isn't me.

Reporter:
If anything is spectacular,

it could be
Williams' own testimony.

He may have to take the stand
to explain his alibi.

I think they thought there's
too many questions that

only Wayne Williams can answer.

And then they got him
on the stand.

Reporter: This was a day for
Wayne Williams

to face his accusers.

The 23-year-old
freelance photographer

took the witness stand
at his trial in Atlanta.

Smith: Wayne,
he had the gift of Gab.

I think he's very convincing.

Reporter: 23-year-old accused
killer Wayne Williams denied

murdering two Blacks
he's charged with killing.

I didn't kill anybody.

-You didn't kill anybody?
-I didn't kill anybody.

-Not one person?
-Not one person.

And Wayne sounded great.

So you never stopped
on the bridge?
No, I didn't.

-You didn't throw trash?
-No.

-You didn't throw anything?
-No, I did not.

-You didn't throw a body?
-Definitely not a body. No.

Mallard: Wayne had answers
for everything.

Reporter: One by one,
23-year-old accused killer

Wayne Williams refuted
the testimony of state witnesses

linking him to Atlanta
murder victims.

He called the witnesses liars
or unfamiliar to him.

And I knew that he figured he
could out-talk the prosecutor.

And John Douglas from the FBI
behavioral science unit,

he's been watching this.

They had suggested the serial
killers are real good

in the short run
and real bad in the long run.

Then they advised us to keep him
on the witness stand.

Jim Kitchens,
one of his co-counsel,

had to go out to the jail
and talk to him that night.

We said, "You know, Wayne,

"the things
that he's accusing you of

would normally
make a person furious."

We said, "You're on trial
for your life here.

It's okay to show some emotion."

"You need to fight
every word he says.

You need to show some fire."

What's up, people?

The next morning, he was
a complete different person.

Mallard says to Wayne,
"How did it feel

when you were choking
the lives out of those victims?"

Kitchens: Wayne said,
"Mr. Mallard,

you must be a fool."

"You want the real
Wayne Williams? You got him."

And Wayne goes bananas,
basically -- yells at us.

Calls us goons.

I'm like,
"This man gotta be crazy."

Williams: I could see almost
the shock in the jurors' faces.

Everybody said, "My God,
is this the same

Wayne that was up here
yesterday?"

I could see that.

The prosecution contended
that Williams

was a dual personality --
a Jekyll and Hyde.

More evidence is piling up
against accused murderer

Wayne Williams,
and for the first time,

the prosecution is speculating
on a motive

for some of the Atlanta
child murders.

They were trying to say
that he just

didn't like poor Black kids.

These people were just a burden
on society.

He's berating the victims.

We presented witnesses who said
he had made derogatory

remarks about poor street kids.

"They're keeping down
the Black race."

And so, I believe,
for whatever reason,

he'd taken it on himself
to cleanse the race.

Mary Welcome,
in her closing arguments,

she actually put a thimble
on the banister

in front of the jury and said,
"The state's case is basically

just a thimbleful of evidence."

But Lewis Slaton,
he was a really good attorney.

He told the jury that when
Wayne Williams was arrested,

the murders of young

African-American males stopped.

Drolet: Dr. Stivers,
who was then

chief medical examiner
of Fulton County,

had testified prior to 1979,

they'd just never had
homicides by asphyxia.

And then all of a sudden,
there was a spike.

After Wayne Williams was
stopped on the bridge,

it goes down to zero.

In fact, there has not been
a single murder or child

reported missing
since I've been mayor.

And during the campaign,
I was in pretty close touch

with the police
and Mayor Jackson.

And I don't think
that kind of thing

could be kept quiet
in a city like Atlanta.

Reporter: The fate of accused
killer Wayne Williams

is now in the hands
of the jury.

Drolet: Do they believe
Wayne Williams?

Do they feel sorry
for Wayne Williams?

All it takes is one person
saying,

"I ain't gonna convict him,"
and you got a hung jury.

After nine weeks of trial,
the jury came back in 11 hours.

It was shocking.

Mr. Williams was found guilty
of two counts of murder.

And identifying him
basically as the serial killer

that was terrorizing Atlanta
for two years.

Williams was sentenced
on February 27th

to two consecutive life terms

in the murders
of two young Atlanta Blacks.

I was sitting in the bedroom
when they said

that he was found guilty.

I said, "Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus.
You've answered my prayers."

He's been charged
with two murders,

but I know
you killed Jeffrey, too.

I knew he killed my son.

But Wayne Williams was
only found guilty

on two murders,
Cater and Payne, not your son.
Right, right.

But I still say
he had some kind of connection

in that with my son.

Camille Bell was saying,
"No, he didn't do this."

Because Wayne Williams
did not commit the murders.

One of the reasons
that I don't think

Wayne Williams
committed the murders

is that I do not believe
that Wayne Williams is Superman.

It would be very difficult
to take a body,

lift it up over the railing
without anybody seeing him.

So, a couple of days
after the conviction,

the task force,
they held a press conference.

Reporter: Atlanta public safety
commissioner

Lee Brown announced
the police task force

that investigated
the crimes would be disbanded

because most of the murders
now were regarded as solved.

Drolet: Probably 24 can be
attributed to him,

and that's what were cleared
by the task force.

There were 24 that were
associated with fiber.

They were all male.

Those two girls are
an aberration,

and there have
always been thoughts

that someone else
was involved in that.

I don't believe Wayne Williams
is responsible

or had anything to do with
the deaths of Angel Lenair

Or LaTonya Wilson.

Some family members said that,
"I felt that my child

deserves his case
being heard in court."

The district attorney at that
time decided

not to proceed
with the other cases,

mainly because
Wayne Williams had already

received two life sentences.

Now what are we going to do?

How are we going to find out
who killed the kids?

These families have
not seen justice at all.

They're just as much
a victim as I am.

I wish the families would,
you know,

find some kind of peace,
but that wasn't the case.

Wayne Williams
immediately appealed.

I'm not a quitter.
I'm not a coward.

And I'm gonna fight this
to the end.

Pearson: Wayne Williams' first
appeal was not successful.

Reporter: In Atlanta today,
a judge denied a motion

for a new trial
for convicted murderer

Wayne Williams.

An appellate court is not gonna
overturn a jury verdict

in the absence
of some serious error

that they perceived occurred.

Some police at one time
suspected

the Klan of being involved
in the murders.

Investigators had turned up
a report that victim Lubie Geter

had had a confrontation

with a man reported to be
in the Ku Klux Klan.

So the GBI did a lot of that
investigation --

wire taps, essentially.

They had these guys
under physical surveillance.

The GBI didn't tell anybody
that they were investigating it.

They decided to keep it secret.

The prosecution team
did not know about it at trial.

It was an entire family
of brothers

that were involved in the Klan.

This was a device to keep
a race war from happening.

And if they indicted
someone from the Klan,

that's what's going to happen,
in their opinion.

So, they wanted to sacrifice
Wayne Williams

in order to keep the peace.

Reporter: But most important
was police informant

Billy Joe Whitaker,

who claims a reputed
Ku Klux Klansman 10 years ago

told him the Klan
was killing the children.

This little kid
run into his van.
What little kid?

Geter. On his go-cart.

"Well," he said, "I'm gonna kill
that little Black bastard."

Reporter: Charles Sanders
allegedly made that comment.

He vehemently denies it --
denies even being a Klansman.

Well, I sympathize
with their cause.

As far as myself, I have never
been a member of the Klan.

I've never associated with them.

Ingram: We heard a lot
of racial slurs.

They were involved in drugs.
They were involved in guns.

I was constantly harassed,

under investigation by the GBI.

Blowhard is a good word --

a person that enjoyed, uh,
running their mouth.

We took them into custody.

We interviewed
and interrogated them.

When they had these guys
under surveillance,

three other children were gone
missing and murdered,

which led the GBI then
to believe that the Klan

certainly was not involved
in these three,

and may not have been involved.

The results were conclusive
that they were not involved

in either the planning,

the commission,
or concealment of any crime

regarding the Atlanta
missing/murdered children.

McMichael: There are some people
that still want to say

that the Ku Klux Klan did it.

It would just make better sense
to some people.

There was never any evidence.

We basically ran into a legal
dead-end

with the federal appeals.

Wayne Williams, of course,
he still contends

that he didn't do any of them,

that he's not the murderer,
he was set up.

Reporter: Louis Graham,
the assistant police chief

in Fulton County at the time
and part of the missing

and murdered task force,
believes Williams.

I don't think Wayne Williams
is responsible for anything.

He believed that there was
someone else out there.

Maybe you can call it a mother's
intuition or just a gut feeling.

I just don't feel
like he did it.

There's too many loose ends
that's not been answered.

It was confusing and there was
no final note

to the whole business.

Their kid's name was
never associated

with a killer
technically, legally.

The Baltazar case --
there is the single case

with the strongest physical
evidence to Wayne Williams.

I believe that there were 12
or 13 different fiber types

linked to Williams
found on Baltazar's body.

Hairs were found inside
the shirt of Patrick Baltazar.

Back in 1981, the best
the FBI lab could do

was say it belongs
to a Black male.

They resubmitted the hair
in 2007.

Deadman: He is consistent with
being the source of the DNA

recovered from those hairs.

It would exclude probably 98%

of the African-American
population in the world.

Without a shadow of a doubt,
I really in my heart believe

that Wayne Williams
killed Patrick Baltazar.

He could have killed
all of them.

Smith: There's always this
lingering question.

How could he have done
all those things?

Keisha Lance bottoms,

who's the mayor
of the city of Atlanta,

is saying, "Okay,
let's give this a fresh look."

Bottoms: We can't go back
and undo what happened

40 years ago in our city.

But we can do better.

Reporter: Last week, Atlanta's
mayor announced a new push

to re-examine evidence
using modern forensics.

Bottoms:
I called our police chief.

I said, "Have we looked
at this evidence recently

"with all of the improvements

with DNA technology
and testing?"

As law enforcement,
we have an obligation

to exhaust every conceivable
avenue of investigation

and make every effort to help
these families find closure.

I want some justice.

I wanna know who killed Curtis
so that I can rest in peace.

Suggs: A lot of people contend,
"We got him.

Wayne Williams is a killer."

But there's a big contingency
of people here in Atlanta

and nationally who don't think
he did it, at least all of them.

I think having somebody go back
and reopen those

and look at them
is a good idea.

I have always hoped that any
of those children

who were friends of some
of the missing

and murdered children,

who knew something but were
afraid to say something,

now will say something.

At the same time,
the mayor decided to come up

with some fitting memorial

for the missing
and murdered children.

40 years is a long wait.

But I'm happy to be here
to see that.

The permanent memorial
will be at City Hall

right outside
of the mayor's office.

Every mayor here on out

will be able to look out
the window

and think about
and remember our children.

Edward Smith, age 14.

Alfred Evans, age 13.

Milton Harvey, age 14.

Yusuf Bell, age 9.

Angel Lenair.

I want these children
to be remembered,

but more importantly,
I want these cases solved.

Success would be to be able

to look into the eyes
of each and every family

and know that they know
that we care.

Clifford Jones, 13.

All of the evidence
in the mysterious Atlanta

child murders case
is being re-examined

using advanced DNA technology.

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms
says

she was inspired
by the new DNA techniques

that helped find
the Golden State killer.

Wayne Williams still insists
he did not murder

any of the victims
in the Atlanta child case

and that the killer or killers
are still out there.

In 2019, he was denied parole.

He will not be considered again
until 2027.

He will be 69 years old.

Thanks for watching.
Good night.