Fulton DA searching for new victims in Atlanta Missing & Murdered Children case
by WSB
ATLANTA – For the first time since Atlanta police reopened the case, Fulton County’s district attorney is revealing there’s a search for additional victims in the Atlanta Missing and Murdered Children case nearly four decades after police arrested Wayne Williams and closed the books on the investigation.
Investigators believe Williams was behind a total of 28 killings, mostly children and a few young adults, all African Americans.
The killings shocked and terrorized the Atlanta metro in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Police discovered more than two dozen bodies over several years — some in local waterways, others dumped in wooded areas and empty lots.
Williams was charged and convicted in the killing of two adults in 1981 but has never been charged in any of the children’s killings.
An investigator who worked the missing and murdered case back in the day says a splash into the Chattahoochee River near where James Jackson Parkway now turns into South Cobb Drive changed the course of the case.
Now, four decades later, the case is alive again and Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard is playing a major role.
“We’re looking at all of the deaths that involved black children in a similar manner during the time period of the Wayne Williams case,” Howard told Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne.
“Maybe some that were not a part of the so called missing and murdered case at the time?” Winne asked Howard.
“That’s correct,” Howard said.
Howard says though Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields played key roles in reopening the cases, Howard said he is coming at the cases with a blank slate.
“I think that’s the right way to do it,” Howard said.
Howard’s office is now playing a key role in leading the investigation.
“How about locating the physical evidence? Is that a major issue?” Winne asked Howard.
“It’s a major issue,” Howard said.
Howard said the key is not limiting the list of cases under renewed investigation to the list of victims labeled as the missing and murdered years ago.
So, his office is looking at all homicides in Atlanta and certain other cold cases involving children under 18, killed in a similar manner during certain years.
