How Was Wayne Williams Caught?

Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder and assault. Reader discretion is advised.

The infamous case of the Atlanta Child Murders came to a close in 1982 when Wayne Williams was linked to 22 of the total 29 murders of children, teenagers, and young adults who were killed in Atlanta between 1979 and 1981. Although Williams was not convicted of all the murders, the police announced that he was the serial killer who executed the Atlanta Child Murders and the investigation was concluded.

The series of murders began on July 21, 1979, when a 14-year-old boy went missing. This was followed by the disappearance of another teenager, days later. Over the 22 months that followed, a reported serial killer haunted the streets of Atlanta. 29 young African Americans were murdered. FBI records state that the bureau did not get involved with the case until June 22, 1980, when a 7-year-old girl was reported missing.

The Atlanta Police Department and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation joined hands with the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit to construct the profile of the potential serial killer. By November, the FBI allotted officers to work on the case. The murders continued until Wayne Williams was caught in May 1981. The murders were seemingly connected. All victims were young African-American males who went missing during the day. Their bodies were found in isolated areas and the murders didn’t suggest obvious motives.

By April 1981, the alleged serial killer began dumping the bodies of his victims in the Chattahoochee River. Officers watched the bridges on the river for hours before there was a splash in the river at around 2:52 am on May 22, 1981, when a car sped across the bridge. The driver was stopped and was identified as 23-year-old African-American freelance photographer, Wayne Williams.

How many of the murders was Wayne Williams convicted of?

When he was confronted, authorities did not have enough cause to take Wayne Williams into custody. Two days later, the body of Nathaniel Cater was found in the river and Williams was interrogated. Williams’ alibi was poor. He was previously arrested for impersonating a police officer. These became the central factors leading to his arrest.

After his arrest in June 1981, Williams was tried and convicted of the murders of two of the victims through hair and fiber analysis and witness testimony. The method employed to match Williams’ hair with that found along with the victims’ bodies, was not based on DNA analysis but rather, just a matter of judgment, CNN reported. The murders came to a halt after Wayne Williams was caught.

Wayne Williams was only convicted of the murders of Nathaniel Carter and Jimmy Payne, both adults, unlike a majority of the remaining victims who were either children or teenagers. He was, however, linked to 20 more murders. He was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences and is currently housed at the Telfair State Prison. Williams has maintained that he is innocent and hasn’t admitted to any of the crimes.

In December 2022, 11 Alive reported that the families of at least four victims of the Atlanta Murders demanded that the DNA tests that matched Williams to the victims. In 2019, authorities promised that the city was going to reexamine the murders to provide closure to the victims’ families. DNA testing wasn’t a verified procedure when Williams was convicted. This led to a debate about whether Williams was behind the murders.

Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children is an HBO docuseries that explores the serial killings in Atlanta. It examines the evidence that came to light in recent years, revealing newer leads to the decades-old case.