All language subtitles for Atlantas.Missing.and.Murdered.The.Lost.Children.S01E03.WEBRip.x264-ION10.English.HI

WOMAN:
The bodies were adding up.

There were hundreds of suspects.

MAN: He was the connection
between all of these victims.

♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS) ♪

WOMAN 2: Wayne Williams saw
himself as a crime reporter.

MAN 2: He would cover accidents,
murders even.

He's smart. He's like a nerd.

Did Wayne Williams kill anyone?
We don't know.

WAYNE WILLIAMS: This isn't just
about me clearing my name.

This is about getting
some justice.

God willing,
let's make it happen.

♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪

[TV static drones]

[bright tone]

["Save Me"
by Joan Armatrading playing]

♪ ♪

- ♪ Sinking ♪

♪ Caught up
in a whirling motion ♪

♪ Such a strange sensation ♪

♪ ♪

♪ The currents uncertain ♪

♪ Like sails of a mill,
I spin ♪

♪ Like wheels,
I move in a circle ♪

♪ While you stand ♪

♪ On the bank ♪

♪ Immune or evasive ♪

♪ Throw me a lifeline ♪

♪ Save me ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Save me ♪

♪ ♪

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

- Another major story
we're following tonight.

A stunning turn of events
as families

of the Atlanta Child Murders
gather to talk about the case.

- The prime suspect called in
from prison

and maintained his innocence.

This all happened
with victims' families

right there in the room.

[indistinct chatter]

- I'm Lou Arcangeli.
- Jarvis Miller.

- Jarvis?
- Miller.

- Miller.
Hello, Mr. Miller.

I really hate that they let
Wayne Williams...

tease us and taunt us.

Every level of jurisprudence
has reviewed this case

multiple times, and they've
always found he's guilty.

- I have half of
APD's case files...

- Okay.

- And over 16 kids had
at least one Caucasian hair

on their body somewhere.

That don't mean the person
killed 'em...

- No.
- But someone else could have

been the killer.

- Mr. Miller,
you raise good points.

It's just that the jury
found it overwhelming.

- Well, we stick there--
we considered the time...

it was a very,
very different time,

and the culture of the city
was very, very different.

- Agreed.
- I'm just saying,

we have to--we have
to count that in,

that the culture of the time
was very, very different.

[dramatic music]

- They feel that
these black children

are not important!

But I firmly believe

at the root of it all is racism.

[crowd murmuring]

- In 1981,
the image of Atlanta was

being transmitted globally
around the world,

and the only thing people heard
about Atlanta was

"children are dying,"
"children are dying."

People all over the world
began to say,

"What in the world
are you all doing?

"How can you not
protect our children

"in a community with these
black elected officials,

"a black mayor,
black chief of police?

What in the world
are you all doing in Atlanta?"

♪ ♪

- Patrick Rogers' death
has hit his family hard.

Seven-year-old Isaac Rogers,

who nicknamed his brother
"Pat-man,"

was the last to see him alive.

- I was seven years old
at the time.

So now my brother, he's gone,

my mother is a wreck,

and they haven't caught

this person.

And there was this one time
we decided to go

to Miss Willie Mae's house
to get some junk food.

We came out of
Miss Willie Mae's apartment,

and right as I stepped down
on the first step,

there's a grown man.

I have never seen him before,

and he's looking up the stairs
at us,

and he starts to come up
the stairs slow, deliberate.

And so I turn around,

and I rush back
to Miss Willie Mae's door.

Had Miss Willie Mae been
10 seconds, 20 seconds later

in opening that door,
my mother would have had

two kids murdered by this guy.

♪ ♪

- I remember driving home
one night and saying,

"This is scary.

I mean, he's out there.
No one has a clue."

[foreboding music]

You know, I could count.

I said, "It's eight days
since the last victim.

We're gonna have one next
two--one or two days."

Sure enough, kid goes missing,

couple days later,
the body found.

♪ ♪

- When I started
with the task force,

these were clearly...

dumped cases.

They were victims

who were placed.

So doesn't look like
we're gonna find

shoe prints and tire prints
or fingerprints.

So trace evidence on the victims

was gonna be a critical aspect
of the investigation,

because they might reveal

the most recent place
the victims were

before they were killed.

- Criminologists
at the State Crime Lab

compare and match fibers,
rope or fabric, for instance,

from different sources

and are working
under the assumption

the fibers could be
the first link with a suspect.

Sources tell us the crime lab
now has possession of

all the clothing
found with the children

on the task force list.

- I started finding dog hair,

violet acetate fibers,

and also these unusual,

distinctive green carpet fibers

showing up on multiple victims.

I grew in confidence
that they were important.

- Larry said,

"If you find this environment,

you have found your killer."

- There was a point
where the paper published

a story saying
the task force had recovered

hair and fiber evidence.

And then after that,

victims started showing up
in rivers.

This was evidence

that there was potentially

a single murderer.

- Joseph Bell, Curtis Walker,

and Aaron Jackson were found

in or near the South River.

Patrick Rogers, Eddie Duncan,

and Timothy Hill

were all found
in the Chattahoochee River.

Theory: water washes away
any evidence

and no crime scene
can be established.

[grim music]

- The fear was palpable,

because at that point,
we knew he was reacting

to what he was reading.

And then I realized
we're dealing with

a single killer that--

'cause he is--he's playing
a game with us.

- He appeared to be learning.

This was a killer
whose behaviors changed

based on experience,

and then the victims got older
as time went on.

- From the time
the murders began

in July of 1979,

the victims were all
under the age of 16.

In the last month,
that common characteristic

has undergone a change:

all have been
considerably older.

♪ ♪

- Most of the serial killers
that we know of

did change along the way.

♪ ♪

The MO changes because it has to

for him to do the crime.

They're always moving...

more and more violent.

Always.

- Jimmy Payne's body was found
late yesterday afternoon

in the Chattahoochee River.

just north of Bankhead Highway.

He is the fifth victim
to be discovered

in the Chattahoochee.

- Another similarity
in many of these cases:

few clues
and a lot of dead ends.

[cameras snapping]

- My initial thought was,

"If I were trying to get rid
of a body,

"the last thing I'd wanna do is

"drive down to the bank

of the river."

[somber music]

You could leave tire tracks.
You could get seen.

You could get stuck.

I said, "I'll bet you that
I would drop 'em off a bridge."

Pull up, get out, drop.

Three seconds later,
I'm back in the car.

I'm gone.

And I said, "We should set up
our surveillance

on the bridge."

- Agent Mike McComas said,
"We wanna watch the bridges.

We think he's throwing the body
off the bridges."

And I looked at him, and I said,

"Are you guys crazy?

"Do you know how many bridges
there are in Atlanta?

"There's hundreds.

How you know you're gonna
have the right bridge?"

And then they said,

"Do you have a better idea,
dumbass?"

And I said to them,
"No, I don't, right now."

I said, "Go for it."

We said,
"Let's try it for 30 days.

We got nothing to lose.
We got nothing else going."

[suspenseful music]

- We had 14 bridges
under surveillance.

And we were using
police recruits

under the bridge.

♪ ♪

- You had an officer on each end

and officers down below
the bridge, next to the river.

♪ ♪

- And the FBI was serving
as the chase vehicles

on top of the bridges.

♪ ♪

- We burned somewhere around
140 to 145 people per night.

♪ ♪

- It was decided that
this particular weekend

will be the last week
that we were going to keep

the bridges under surveillance.

[eerie music]

- That night, I was
at the southernmost bridge.

I was down there
with a SWAT team guy

with Atlanta PD.

♪ ♪

I remember sitting in the car.

The radio squelch broke,

and I heard something
about a splash.

And of course, my ears perk up,

and I start playing
with the radio,

see what I can get, turn
the volume up a little bit.

- Ready at a 502.

- The guys below
hear a huge splash.

- It was 3:00 in the morning,

and you hear, "whoosh."

[haunting music]

- And then they looked up
on the bridge,

and they can see headlights.

They're moving very slowly,
were just starting to move.

♪ ♪

- I hollered over
to the Atlanta SWAT guy,

"Get in the car, man.

We need to run north
real quick."

I'm going up 285 North...

And I look over
on the southbound side

on the ramp.

And somebody's got lit up.
There's a lot of blue lights.

I pulled in front,
and I walked back.

I said, "What's going on?"

They had already
pulled someone over.

I see his license.

He was 23 years old,

and his name was Wayne Williams.

[indistinct chatter]

- Hey.
- Hello, gentlemen.

How are you?
- How are you doing?

All righty.

- [clears throat]

[clears throat, sniffs]

There was never any incident
on the bridge.

I never stopped on the bridge.

I never threw anything

off the bridge,

and nobody ever testified
that I did.

- There was maybe
three or four cars,

plus Wayne Williams' car.

I pulled around 'em
and pulled in front.

First thing out of my mouth
was--I said,

"Do you--do you know why
we pulled you over?"

And he goes, "Yeah, it's got
something to do with

those missing kids."

And then immediately
out of his mouth, he said,

"Yeah, you know, um,
Channel 2..."

he says, "They're covering
this really well."

And I thought, "How strange."

He said, "I'm a talent scout,

and I have an early morning
appointment"--

like 7:00 or 8:00--

"with Cheryl Johnson over
at Spanish Trace Apartments."

He said, "I'm out here
trying to find her apartment."

[dramatic music]

That just wasn't believable.

Who goes out
at 3:00 in the morning

for a four-hour--an appointment
four hours later

just to ensure
that he's not late?

Just didn't cut it with me.

- Two more cars
of plainclothes officers

came on the scene,

and I recognized Captain Spence.

He was, at the time,

head of
Atlanta police SWAT team.

He says,
"I'm searching this car.

You got a problem with it?"

And I told him
in no uncertain terms that

he didn't have any permission
to search my car.

He informed he didn't need it.

He was tired of my "S"
and all this.

He was dragging stuff
all out on the seats and all.

- I notice on the other side
of Wayne was a pair of gloves.

They were almost, like,

suede-like gloves
with wool liner,

which I thought was
just a little bit strange.

- There was a set of gloves
that stayed

in the glove compartment
all the time,

and that's exactly
where they were.

And the way they got
on the front seat

when the other officers
found them,

Carl Holden had gone
in the glove compartment,

pulled the gloves out,

and left them on the front seat.

So when the second set of
officers came to do the search,

the gloves were laying
on the front seat.

♪ ♪

- As he gets out,
I stepped to the back,

and I see
on the hump of the car,

there was a nylon rope there

that was like a ski rope.

It was braided.

♪ ♪

- There's an embankment.

They claim they found this wire,

but that was a piece of wire,

when they were looking around
the area of the car,

that was found
up the embankment.

And when he found it
and picked it up,

he said, "This would make
a nice ligature, wouldn't it?"

And I said,
"Remember where you got that.

It was here, not in the car."

♪ ♪

I could hear the helicopter
searching the river,

and also, they were calling
for some boat team

to put in the river.

So I stayed there,
waiting on them

to finish their river search
for about another hour

till finally,
one of 'em called and said,

you know, "Zero in the river."

Whatever that means.

[unsettling percussive music]

- We carried it as far
as we could.

We had suspicious reason
to stop him,

but we really didn't have
enough to arrest him.

So I ask the other guys,
"Are you through back there?"

And they went,
"Yeah, we're done."

I said, "Okay."

So I said,
"Okay, you're free to go."

- The FBI made the decision
not to arrest him,

because if you arrest this guy,

you have just said,

"This is the Atlanta--

the child killer."

And you better have it right.

- And then Captain Spence said,

"Well, I guess you can go."

He said, "But I got you
this time, little nigger."

Quote, unquote.

[rain pattering]

[daunting music]

- At first,
we didn't think it was him,

and we would honestly think

we could pretty much
wash him out as a suspect.

Looks like a little nerd,

standing at--he's only
about 5'7".

He's not very big in stature.

Spectacles and his Afro,
he looks like Urkel,

completely nonthreatening,

and I'm saying to myself,
"Get him out of here."

And then two days
after the splash,

the body of the last victim,
Nathaniel Cater,

washed up about
a mile and a half,

two miles south of the bridge.

[solemn music]

- Sunday, the oldest victim
yet was found

in the Chattahoochee River,

but investigators still
don't believe

the murderer or murderers are
choosing victims at random.

- Cater died
just a couple of weeks

before his 28th birthday.

He was found
in the Chattahoochee,

near the I-285 Bridge.

He had been dead several days.

♪ ♪

- When the body
of Nathaniel Cater

washed up south of the bridge,

we said, "I think
Wayne Williams has a problem."

And I said,
"I think you're right."

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- The FBI had developed
really detailed profiles

of what the suspect
should be like.

- One of the many profiles
was of a single black male

living with his parents.

And they based that on
victimology,

studying the victims,
the environment of the victims.

♪ ♪

- He would also be
very conscious

of the media coverage.

He'd be very aware.

He would be an ambulance chaser.

And that was Wayne Williams.

- And his car was all done up

with lights and...

it looked like a police car.

♪ ♪

- Wayne had a police monitor
in his car.

People would say,

"That's strange."

Well, not if you're chasing

news stories.

Because he would listen
to the police monitor,

and when he heard something
going off,

he would jump in his car
and take off flying

with this big camera in the car

to go to try to get
the news story.

- It had been a detective car,
had a scanner.

There was a whip on the back
and everything.

And he put the blue lights
back in,

and he got arrested
for having it.

- Wayne was a police groupie.

He would hang out

with police officers.

♪ ♪

He could easily have
impersonated a police officer

to overpower or to get
these kids to get in his car.

♪ ♪

- We generated a list
of 3,000 names,

and the only criteria
on the list was:

person arrested for
impersonating

a police officer,

and race, gender
were not criteria.

Wayne Williams is on that list

'cause he'd been arrested
for impersonating

a police officer earlier.

♪ ♪

However, I am convinced

had we sent
two agents out there--

even sent me out there--
we would have come back

and said,
"This is not the guy."

And after we got
our Wayne Williams,

then we looked at it and said,
"Jeez, he fits the profile.

He checks all the boxes."

[somber music]

- Okay, we're coming up.
Remote one, sound and picture.

- Ten seconds to the ID.
- Ten to the ID.

- Sometime after Wayne
was stopped on the bridge,

the anchor from Channel 2

called me about 9:00 at night

and said, "We--we've been told--

we have confirmation

that there's a suspect."

So I got
to the FBI office in downtown

because they detained somebody.

[indistinct chatter]

[alarm sounding]

- Is there a suspect inside?

- The word is not "a suspect."

There's been,
uh--there's someone

who has been interviewed
since this afternoon.

That's the official word,

"interviewed since
this afternoon."

[cameras snapping]

I get to the office,
and I see this guy

who was a photographer
for a couple of

the black newspapers
in the city...

Homer Williams.

And I'm thinking, "This guy
has the picture of this guy."

And I said, "Homer,
how did you manage this?

And he said, "Well, it's my son.

They're charging my son
with littering."

You know, I can't believe it.
He kept saying...

and finally, I said to him,

"Homer, you need to stop
talking to me,

"because, you know,
I represent the law people.

I'm in the side
of the government."

- Wayne takes
a lie detector test,

and the polygraph examiner
shows him the results.

And Wayne says, you know,
"What's this one,

where there's a big spike?"

And he said,
"Well, that's 'Did you kill

Nathanial Cater?'"

"What's this one?"

"That's 'Did you dump his body
in the river?'"

You know, and so forth.

And the three of them are
the three questions

about whether or not
he's the killer.

♪ ♪

- At that point,
I knew I was a suspect.

There was no question.

In my stupidity and naivete,

I had hoped that by trying
to cooperate with these people

I could rationalize
and explain some things,

and I figured sooner or later,
they'd leave me alone.

[dramatic music]

- I knew nothing
about the bridge stakeouts.

I knew nothing about the splash.

I knew nothing about
the bridge incident at all.

I'd never heard the name
Wayne Williams.

♪ ♪

I had been to the autopsy
and collected fibers

from Cater's body.

I found a green carpet fiber.

That, to me, was a very strong
indication that was a linkage

to the other victims.

On June 3rd,
my coworker and myself,

we saw coming down the hallway

a crime scene team from the FBI,

been flown down from D.C.

So that seemed very unusual,

that there's something big
going on.

We were then informed that
there was a suspect's vehicle

in the basement of
the federal building

to be searched, and then I said,

"Go get the crime scene
equipment."

So I left my coworker
processing the car.

And I left and went to the home.

♪ ♪

There was already
a camera crew at the scene,

which I thought was
kind of interesting.

♪ ♪

Inside the house, there was
a few detectives there,

and then there was maybe
four people from the FBI lab

processing and doing
different things

inside the house.

♪ ♪

- In a ceiling panel,
they found a slapjack.

And a slapjack is
a leather, flat device,

maybe 10 inches long
with lead inside.

If you strike somebody
in the head--you know,

you hit 'em--hit 'em
upside the head, so to speak,

you can kill a person
very, very easily,

because you're hitting 'em
with--in effect,

like hitting with a lead pipe.

[moody music]

- There were boxes
of slides of photos

of young adults
and what have you.

I mean, there were a lot.

Going through some
of the slides,

I found the slide
I thought looked like

maybe one of the victims.

And so one of the APD detectives

was outside, and I wanted
to show him the slide.

We were both looking
at the slide,

and Homer Williams came out

and snatched the slide
out of my hand

and started going back
into the house.

♪ ♪

- In the backyard,
in the barbecue pit,

according to neighbors,
photographs had been burned

early on the morning
of May 22nd,

after Wayne Williams
left the bridge,

when he was released
and he went home.

And then
in the early morning hours,

he and his father were out
burning photographs

in the barbecue pit.

♪ ♪

- I saw there was
wall-to-wall green carpet

in several of the rooms.

The bed was a violet
and green bedspread.

They had a German Shepherd dog.

I--yeah,
I had an intense feeling

of "This is big.
This is--this is it.

This is gonna--this is what
we've been looking for."

So I collected some
fiber samples...

And I went back to the lab,

and I put the fiber
from the Williams' bedroom

under the scope.

It matched
the violet acetate fibers.

Then I looked
at the green carpet.

I knew instantly
from crime scenes that

that was the fiber.

It was an absolute...

eureka moment.

- Bingo.

This is unbelievable.

This is--if this is not
the source,

I don't know what is.

[dramatic music]

[indistinct chatter]

♪ ♪

- The way that
they were treated.

The way that authorities went
into the house,

tearing up the carpet in
the house and the furniture...

- The car.
- The car.

♪ ♪

Mrs. Williams was
very respectable people,

both educators,
very dignified and refined.

Peace-loving people to be
treated like that,

it was just--
it was unbelievable.

They were building this case.

They were going to implicate him

by any means necessary,

because they had to close

the case.

They had to do something,

because not only Atlanta,

but America was disturbed
about what was going on--

the world even.

♪ ♪

- In one of the most tragic
situations ever to strike

an American city,

President Reagan today took
a direct hand

in the Atlanta situation.

- I want the people of Atlanta
and the nation to know that

this administration is doing
and will continue to do

what we can to help bring
an end to this tragedy.

- What do you have to say
to people who say that

Washington would have
moved quicker

if those children
had been white?

- We moved as quickly
as we could

and were aware
that there was a need.

- The fact they were black
didn't mean that

you had less concern
or you had--you moved slower?

- No, Sam,
I think there's one thing,

and I wanna make one thing
very plain.

This goes all the way back
to the campaign:

this administration
is totally colorblind.

[energetic music]

♪ ♪

- When he first called me,
he said,

"I think... I'm in trouble.

"I think I need a lawyer,

"and I know from your reputation

that you are fearless."

♪ ♪

- Everybody knew Mary Welcome.

Mary was this crusading
city solicitor

protecting the city.

- Back when Mary Welcome was

a smut-fighting city solicitor,

she earned the nickname
"Wild Mary"

for her determined efforts

to close down
Atlanta bathhouses.

- That's in section 20-180
of the city code of Atlanta,

which provides that any nuisance

may be abated or removed
by the judge

of the Municipal Court
of the City of Atlanta.

♪ ♪

- She was closing down all of
the peep joints downtown

and closing up
the massage parlors.

You know, going in...

♪ ♪

- We have closed the doors

on every single bathhouse
in this city.

- Except for the Blue Fox.

- Except--we've closed
those doors too,

but a higher court has said
that they have right

pending appeal.

I have no doubt that they too
will be closed very shortly.

♪ ♪

- Wayne wanted the publicity.

He wanted the notoriety,

and the selection

of Mary Welcome fit

with that narrative of Wayne

wanting to be important

and wanting everybody to know
who he was.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

[indistinct chatter]

♪ ♪

- After returning home,

the young man conducted
a news conference,

setting the condition
that he would not be shown

and that his name not be used.

- Had you thought a lot
about this murder case?

- Some of them might be
connected,

but some of these kids
are in places

they don't have no business
being at certain times

of the day and night.

They're just running around
in the streets wild.

I'm saying
when you're doing that,

you're opening yourself up
for all kinds of things.

I just feel
some of these parents

just need to tighten up
and get strict on the kids.

- But you didn't throw
anything in the river?

- No.
- Even though they said that?

- I told them that I dropped
nothing in the river.

One agent thought I slowed down
to one mile an hour,

and the two agents were saying

they were not
in a position to see.

- Wayne holds a press conference

in his house.

And he hands out his resume...

which shows he flies airplanes,

and he's a race car driver,

and all these other things,
you know, that--

just absolute fiction.

- Police, news reporters,
an photographers smothered

this quiet neighborhood.

The police said they were
there to watch the man

some call the prime suspect

mostly for his own protection,
they said.

- Williams himself did not
exactly go into hiding.

- All right, everybody
on this property--

I'm pressing against you two
criminal trespass charges.

[indistinct radio chatter]

- They released Wayne
to be hounded by media

for the next weeks.

[funky music]

[car horn honks]

♪ ♪

- He dangled himself.

It was like--it was like
he's a carrot.

"Look over here.

Here I am."

It's like he was waving at them,
taunting them.

♪ ♪

My impression of Wayne was
almost like a child,

but parading in big boy clothes.

[car horn honks]

- Hey, Wayne, where you going?

Wayne, where you going?

- Whenever he leaves his home,

agents madly scramble into
their cars and follow him.

The first car, the FBI;
the second, the task force;

the third, the FBI,

and so it has gone all day.

- Get out the way!
- Homer.

- Yeah.
- Forget it.

♪ ♪

- You're gonna make a fool
of yourself

without talking to us.

[camera snaps]

- Mr. Williams, can you tell us

why you're taking pictures
of us?

♪ ♪

Mrs. Williams, what is
your husband doing?

♪ ♪

- One of the nights
that I was there,

I heard Wayne yelling my name.
"Angelo!"

And I go, "Oh, shit.
Oh, what do I do now?"

He made an impassioned plea

for the mayor to stop
all this stuff,

and I said,
"I will pass the message."

And I--and I did.

- Good morning.
- How is everybody?

- Good morning. Mr. Slaton.
- Morning.

Good morning.
- Morning, sir.

- District Attorney Lewis Slaton

decided last night
there was not enough evidence

to charge the man.

- No arrest warrants

have been contemplated

in the immediate future,

and that's just where we stand.

- Lewis Slaton had been
the District Attorney

in Fulton County for many years,

and I think his reluctance
was due to the fact

that he didn't have
any evidence.

There's an old adage:

a good prosecutor can indict

a ham sandwich.

Well, after you get him

indicted,

what are you gonna do
if you don't have any evidence

to support your allegation?

[tense music]

- The FBI wanted to arrest
this person

in connection
with the child murders,

but local authorities refused.

There was a sharp disagreement
over whether or not

arrest warrants
should be issued.

- Lewis Slaton kept saying,

"I don't have
sufficient evidence

to charge Wayne Williams."

He kept saying that publicly.

♪ ♪

- My sources told me
about a meeting

at the Governor's Mansion.

♪ ♪

It included the FBI

and the U.S.
Attorney's Office,

the Georgia attorney general,

and representatives
of the task force.

That meeting with Lewis Slaton
went on for seven hours

on that Friday.

[dramatic music]

George Bush wanted the FBI
and the U.S. Attorney's Office

and state and local officials
to be in the same room.

Clearly, having the meeting
at the mansion,

there was a message.

- Slaton's taken inside
and told...

"We're gonna bring charges
if you don't."

- The FBI and everybody else

was being embarrassed

internationally

by the murders.

- Officer,
he's asked them to leave,

and they refuse to leave.

- I asked all the reporters
to leave off this yard.

- I think that they decided
it's time to end it,

and I think that Wayne Williams

got the lucky ticket.

- Mr. Williams, why have you
asked for us to leave?

- No comment.

- He was being a pain
in the butt to the police.

♪ ♪

- ABC News has learned
Slaton yielded yesterday

under extreme outside pressure.

♪ ♪

- I will say that

there was no...

that pressure or politics

did not figure in
to the timing at all.

♪ ♪

- It was Father's Day,
June 21st, 1981.

I heard the door knock,

and my mom said,

"Wayne, you gotta come out here.

I need to see you."

Walked into the family room,
and they said, "Mr. Williams."

I said, "Yes,"
and Mary walked into the area.

And I said,
"What's this about?"

And she said, "Well, Wayne,
they come to arrest you.

You need to go with 'em."

And...

Everything stopped.

My world--everything
just stopped at that point.

[solemn music]

I-I can't even describe
how I felt.

I can remember how my mom
started crying and all.

I can remember that.

And that was the longest
five minutes--

one of the longest five minutes
of my life.

♪ ♪

- Williams was arrested
for the strangulation murder

of 27-year-old Nathaniel Cater,

the 28th and last victim.

- Nathaniel Cater lived
in this apartment complex

on Verbena Street Northwest
with his father

up until four months
before he was murdered.

He moved out on his own,

but came back often for visits.

The apartment is
just a few blocks

from Wayne Williams' home
on Penelope Road.

[indistinct chatter]

- Get out of the way there.

[engine turns over]

[desolate music]

- Williams was also charged

with the murder of
another victim,

21-year-old Jimmy Ray Payne.

♪ ♪

- Payne lived here with
his sister on Magnolia Street.

He was last seen going to
the Omni to sell some coins.

♪ ♪

- Once we heard that
he was being charged

with the murder of two men,

it all fell apart for us.

Okay, well,

where's the solution

to these dozens of children?

- You know, "That's it."

It's--you know,

"We found the killer,

and that's it."

You know,

but that really wasn't it.

- Some Atlanta youngsters
participating

in the Safe Summer program
said they feel

only a little safer now.

- Because it was more
than one child being killed,

and they don't know
if he killed them all.

So it still could be
more than one killer out there.

[somber music]

- I'm seven years old.

The police have made an arrest.

The cops had him,
taking a perp walk,

and they showed him.

And I'm looking,
and I don't what I--I drop

whatever I had.

And I'm like, "Son of a bitch.

"That's the guy.

"That's the guy
who was coming up the stairs

"at Miss Willie Mae's.

That's him."

I had a--I this crazy sense of
calm that came over me,

because I knew--I knew that
they had the son of a bitch.

♪ ♪

- I'd never tried a murder case,

but I knew how to put
a team together.

- I get a call
from Mary Welcome.

There was no other case like it
at that point in history,

that had that many
alleged homicides involved.

[upbeat music]

I'm in my 30s.

At that point,
I'd probably tried

20 or 30 homicide cases,

conducted hundreds
of preliminary hearings

and several direct appeals
to the Georgia Supreme Court.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

I was well equipped to try
and defend a criminal case

and especially a homicide case.

- William Northrop
volunteered his time.

- I was after the facts.

I wanted to know

if there was
prosecution evidence

that could tie Wayne to

the two murders
he was charged with.

♪ ♪

[cameras snapping]

- How's it going, Wayne?

- Wayne was an unusual person

and a very difficult client.

One day,
I was visiting him in jail,

and I said, "Wayne,
is there anything

that I can get for you?"

He said he wanted to see
his boys in his band.

I said, "You don't need this."

But it was just easier
to give in.

[upbeat R&B music]

♪ ♪

Young men came in.

He told them, "Are you keeping
your grades up?

"Are you practicing?

"We need to figure out
what kind of uniforms

you're gonna have
for the band."

His focus was everywhere
but on...

on this case.

[door closes]

It was--it was difficult.

- What's the next step
at this point?

[indistinct chatter]

- Well, I'm not making
any comments at all.

Tony, I think,
wanted to have... control.

He wanted to call the shots.

He said, "The more time
we give the prosecution,

"the more time they are
going to be able

to tighten up their case."

My position was:
we need to slow this case down.

This was my client,

and I was not giving up control

of the overall strategy.

It really became
confrontational.

Wayne's position is:
neither of you are in control.

[laughs]

I control.

- Three months before
the trial started,

Mary and Wayne
made the decision that

they would try the case
without me.

Wayne was the man
behind the curtain,

full of himself.

I had never been with someone

at that young age

that had that much control

with saying, "This is who I am,"

and then say,
"No, that's not who I am.

Let me just tell you who I am."

Playing the part
several different ways,

I'd never had that happen
before.

- Wayne Williams had fired
Tony Axam,

who was a very good lawyer.

So we were a little bit
baffled by that,

'cause this was in October,

and by that time,
the trial was now scheduled

to start at the end of December.

- Joe Drolet is well known
for his knowledge of case law.

He's expected to play
a major role

in the examination of witnesses,

making sure
the prosecution's every move

is on firm legal ground.

- The strategy was
to present the evidence

in such a way that the jury
would understand

the significance of it

and know that all these
things together

pointed directly
at Wayne Williams.

[dynamic music]

♪ ♪

[indistinct chatter]

- Good morning.
- Good morning, Mary.

- Good morning.
How are you?

Good morning.
Good morning.

- Even Ms. Welcome admits
her experience

as a criminal trial lawyer
is not particularly impressive.

So she was joined
on the defense team

by Alvin Binder
of Jackson, Mississippi.

His horn-rimmed glasses, cigar,

and somewhat brusque manner
had become his trademarks.

- Delay the start of the trial?
- No, sir.

- Al Binder came in...

- When the judge bangs
that gavel, we'll be ready.

- Good ol' Southern boy...
- I hope.

- And he said, "This is the way
I'm gonna handle this.

"I'm gonna go in and say,"

you know, "How dare you,"
you know,

"do this to a human being?

"And this is unjust,

and this is a violation
of his rights."

He was dynamic.

And we said, "You go, person."

- In Atlanta, Wayne Williams
goes on trial today

charged with committing two
of the 28 murders

that terrorized that city.

We have more from Bonnie Erbé.

- Today's opening of
the trial of Wayne Williams,

the only person charged
with any of slayings,

will churn emotions
in a city almost healed.

[solemn music]

- 15 deputies assigned
to the Williams trial

had been given
special medical training

to help them deal
with any emergency

which might come up.

Trauma training, could this be

in case there was an explosion?

You are preparing yourself
for that possibility?

- Yes,
we are preparing for that,

but it was still
just a basic first aid course.

[siren wailing]

- When the trial started,

it was sort of
a surreal experience,

because... it almost felt like

I was in a trial in a movie.

And I know that
all these people are actors,

and I'm an actor too.

- Good morning.
How are you?

- You're becoming
the Diana Ross of Atlanta.

- [laughs]
- What did--what did you say?

- Are you becoming
the Diana Ross of Atlanta?

- Um, no.
- Every time I run into you--

- Every time I check my purse,
I don't have her money.

- [laughs]

[dramatic music]

- On a big day like this,
they make extra seats

in the courtroom for the press.

So they're only about
50 available for spectators.

- Stay in line.
Stay single file.

- At 7:00 this morning,

there were more than 300 people

crammed in this lobby,

hoping to get a shot
at one of those seats.

Also here, three mothers
whose children are

on the task force list.

- I don't think I would
forget that feeling,

because you're talking
about hundreds of people.

You couldn't hear nothing.

You could hear
all these breathing voices.

And then you had
the cameras in the courthouse.

And, um--and then reporters
wanted to hear from us

once they found out that
we was the parents, you know.

So when we came out
the courthouse,

you know, soon as we stepped
out the room, they start,

you know, putting the cameras
all in our faces.

- If he get charged
for the two killings

that they are charging him with,

what about the other kids?

The other 27 kids.

[indistinct chatter]

That's--that's what
I would like to know.

What they gonna do
about the other kids?

- I was asked several times,
did I know any of the victims.

No, I didn't.
I've never met any of them.

I didn't kill Nathaniel Cater,

Jimmy Ray Payne,
or anybody else.

There basically was
no evidence against me.

I hadn't killed anybody.

[indistinct chatter]

- During the trial, I was under
a lot of pressure, stress.

- What time did you guys get
down here this morning?

- 6:30.
- When'd you get down here?

I remember one time
that we went to court,

there was a table

with one chair behind it
for me...

and all these white men
in suits.

And I looked at that,
and I said, "Oh, my God.

What am I gonna have
to contend with?"

[despondent music]

♪ ♪

- In Atlanta today,
the jury in the murder trial

of Wayne Williams was
led to the bridge

from which Williams allegedly
disposed of the body

of one of the victims.

♪ ♪

- Judge Cooper allowed us

to take the jury to the bridge.

We wanted the jury to visualize
our argument,

that Wayne could not have

stopped on the bridge.

♪ ♪

- The took us out on the bridge.

They showed us where they

thought the splash happened.

They showed us where they
apprehended him out there.

♪ ♪

- Why was Wayne Williams
on the bridge?

Wayne claims he's out there
to see Cheryl Johnson.

The mysterious Cheryl Johnson
that no one

has ever found in 38 years.

He crossed the bridge
'cause he was dropping a body.

- Picture this in your mind.

He'd have to get out of the car,

go to the back of the car,

open the trunk,
pull the body out,

toss it over the bridge,

and then get back in his car...

close the trunk
and close his door

and then go up.

Now you--just imagine how long
that would take.

At the trial,
the officers testified

they never saw the car stopped.

♪ ♪

- The defense contends
that this expansion joint

in the bridge would have
alerted police lookouts

to the presence of Williams' car

before he had the chance
to dump a body,

if in fact he did.

- There is a separation
in that bridge

where you could hear
"ka-plunk."

- Every time a car
went over that bridge--

and we checked this all out--

greater than five miles
an hour, it went,

"ka-clank, ka-clank."

[thudding]

It drove the cops
under the bridge to go crazy.

They heard no clank that night,

which means he coasted
onto the bridge

going under five miles an hour.

When they looked up
on the bridge,

the headlights weren't moving.

So the car must have
been stopped.

And he gets out, and he...

[whistles]

Just pulls the body
out of the trunk

and just drags him,
throws him off the bridge.

[water trickling]

Then after the splash,

the headlights started
to move slowly.

[insects chirping]

- I mean, do you know
what deadweight is like?

I couldn't imagine
Wayne picking up deadweight,

because he was a small person
in stature,

and he didn't have muscles.

- He didn't have to pick
the body up.

He just had to drag
the foot over out the back of

the station wagon.

You don't have to pick it up.
You have to drag it.

You can drag--I can drag
anybody in this room.

- I know a guy in the FBI
that's about Wayne's size,

and he's the strongest man
I ever met in my life.

- Listen, man, you know
a lot of strong guys

that are really tiny guys.

Strength got nothing to do
with your size.

- I have no question
in my mind that he could have

leveraged a body
over the bridge.

The guardrails of the bridge
were only 2 1/2, 3 feet high.

- Wayne had chosen his bridge
carefully.

He probably used that bridge
before.

[dramatic music]

- Had I have tried that case,

we would have had
a 160-pound pig

in the courtroom, dead.

I would have had Wayne stand up
in front of the jury

with a barrier erected
the size of that bridge

and watch you try to lift
160 pounds of deadweight,

throw it over a bridge.

♪ ♪

- They wanted to believe
I was some type of Superman

that could kidnap somebody,

kill them in my house, car,
or wherever,

put 'em back in this car
and go dump the bodies

without any evidence being left.

Come on, that's ridiculous.

- Defense attorneys launched
an aggressive attack on

prosecution evidence today
as testimony started

in the Atlanta murder trial
of Wayne Williams.

A medical examiner today
took the stand

and conceded that
he could not prove

that one of Williams' alleged
victims was indeed murdered.

- First thing I wanted to do
was find out

whether we really did have
a legal, medical murder.

[ominous music]

It was clearly evident
Nathaniel Cater had been

in the water more than two days.

♪ ♪

If you look at
the medical examiner's report,

it says he's been in the water
for at least a week.

A police recruit heard a splash,

and two days later,
Cater's body was found.

♪ ♪

Two days?
No.

Far, far more.

- Medical examiners can tell
whether a body has been

in the water
for more than two days.

You can tell
by the decomposition.

Two days to a week-plus,

that's absolutely too far apart.

♪ ♪

Somebody is lying.

It doesn't make sense.

- Let me specifically
point out something.

I mean, it's pretty clear.

Dr. Zaki says, "summation of
autopsy findings for

Jimmy Ray Payne"--
the second victim--

"had it not been
for other killings,

he "in all probability
would have ruled the death

an accidental drowning."

Jimmy Ray Payne was
21 years old.

He was found floating
in the Chattahoochee.

He was in the typical floater
position,

which is the position your body
absorbs when you drown.

He'd been in the water
for quite some time.

He had skin slippage,
which means that

the outside layer
of the skin dissolved.

He was found in swim trunks.

Seemed to me that he drowned.

I didn't believe that this was

a legal, medical murder.

- Dr. Saleh Zaki admitted
he could not positively say

Jimmy Ray Payne was dead

when he entered
the Chattahoochee River.

During cross-examination,

Alvin Binder asked Zaki, quote,

"You cannot say that man
was not alive

when he entered the water?"

Zaki said,
"Based on the autopsy, no."

- Jimmy Ray Payne's autopsy

was first listed
as undetermined.

And then it was changed

to homicide.

Dr. Saleh Zaki allegedly

changed the cause of death

after Wayne was arrested,

due to pressure
from prosecutors.

- He changes it
because it was wrong.

Because there were two
different death certificates,

it became a huge argument
for the defense.

♪ ♪

- I've practiced law
for over 40-plus years.

That is the only case
that I have a memory of

where the autopsy was changed

from undetermined to a homicide.

It is so rare.

It is an extraordinarily rare
occurrence.

- How you doing?
- Hello.

- We're only fighting
two alleged murder cases

at this point in time.

So we felt pretty safe.

- Williams is charged
only with two of

the 28 murders on
the special task force list,

but the prosecution
wants to introduce evidence

linking Williams
to ten additional victims,

including one whose name
was never on the list.

♪ ♪

- Big mistake.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[bright tone]

MAN: The state built its case

that if Wayne Williams
killed one,

he killed them all.

MAN 2: The prosecution claimed
that the fiber

in Wayne's carpet was rare.

It was all fake math,

and they presented it
to the jury as hard facts.

OFFICER: Twenty-three cases
were boxed up.

That is shockingly negligent.

There was somebody interfering
in the decision-making process.

MAN 3: He dropped
a body off a bridge,

he got convicted,
he's gonna die in prison.

That's a success story.

♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYS) ♪