All language subtitles for Atlantas Missing and Murdered The Lost Children S01E05

WOMAN: Natalie Wood falls
into the category of an icon.

NATASHA GREGSON WAGNER:
By the age of 25,

my mom had been nominated
for three Oscars.

The focus on how she died

has overshadowed
her life's work.

In a town where women were not
always respected,

she was an exception.

She had a big heart
and that showed up in her work.

NATALIE WOOD: I've enjoyed
the part where you act,

not the stardom that follows it.

♪ (MUSIC OUTRO PLAYS) ♪

WOMAN: Almost overnight,

23 cases were boxed up
and it's like Wayne did that.

Once Atlanta was provided
an out, they took it.

♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS) ♪

MAN: There were so many things
that just pointed directly

at Wayne Williams.

It was all fake math.

And they presented it
to the jury as hard fact.

Almost every key witness
against Wayne Williams

committed perjury
or gave misleading testimony.

How do you defend against
what we did not know?

WOMAN 2: Some of these children
should not have been attributed

to Wayne Williams.

MAN: The person identified
to police

had a scar down his face.

WOMAN 3: The investigators think
that there was at least

one other killer.

[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 ♪

- Everybody, please stand
and join hands.

- Father God,

oh, I ask that you would bless

each and every one
that is here, Lord.

Bless every parent, Lord,
that lost a child, Lord.

In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.

all: Amen.

- Yeah.
[laughs]

- I stayed with the mothers
for a long time.

- Oh, we gonna get started,

and y'all gonna have a chance
to tell y'all's story, okay?

- All right.

- Bless you.
- Bless you.

We had a little group
going on

till about '85.

This lady called
Mildred Glover,

we would go to her house
every Saturday.

She helped us
through a whole lot.

[somber music]

- It was very important
that we all stick together

as a group,

the ones that were still alive.

♪ ♪

I came in
with a 35-millimeter camera

and just started
shooting pictures.

♪ ♪

- I remember I was at
Miss Mildred Glover's.

While a handful of parents
and Miss Glover

was talking in the home,

me as a child,
I'm on the porch,

playing around.

This blue car pulls up.

This guy, tall white guy,

took a brick,

and he slung it
through that window,

and I remember
Miss Glover's husband

come running out of the door

and asked me,
"Ron, what'd you do?"

I said, "I ain't do anything,
Mr. Bill.

That man did it."

And he jumps in his car,

and he turns around,

and he did a gesture like that
out of the window.

♪ ♪

That brick had a note on it.

It said, "We gonna kill
all you niggers."

That's what that note said.

"We gonna kill
all you niggers."

I'll never forget that day.

♪ ♪

- All these
strange things happen

related to the case.

Wayne was in jail...

might've been
a couple of years.

And I'd been working
to get the next appeal ready

when something new
come into the mix.

[suspenseful music]

So my offices
was on Ralph McGill.

I remember coming up
on my doorstep,

there was a package

that was left for me.

I don't know who brought it.

Maybe I do know who brought it,
but I can't say.

[laughs]
But man, it was incredible.

♪ ♪

There was page after page.

Some of it
was hand-written longhand.

Some of it was typed up.

Every bit of it was about
an undercover investigation

which took place
in early '81.

♪ ♪

- The Georgia Bureau
of Investigation

had opened up
an entire investigation

focusing on Ku Klux Klan
involvement in the killings.

♪ ♪

It had been kept
completely secret,

and indeed,
separate and apart from

the task force that was
investigating the murders,

separate from
the prosecuting authorities.

That evidence
had never been presented

to the defense
at any time.

- I was excited, man.

I was excited
because I thought these files,

the anonymous package,

was overwhelming violation
of the Brady Law.

- The United States
Supreme Court,

in a case called
Brady versus Maryland,

held that the prosecution
is required

to provide to the defense

any and all evidence

that tends to exonerate
or exculpate a defendant.

Because the prosecution
and the police

tend to have the ability
to collect far more evidence

than the defense does,

they have to disclose it.

In this case,
they didn't do it.

- It was a no-brainer
that this would give Wayne

a new trial.

- Wayne Williams
is being represented

in this hearing
for a new trial

by his former attorney,
Lynn Whatley,

and two of this country's
most prominent attorneys,

Bobby Lee Cook
of Summerville, Georgia,

and William Kunstler
of New York.

- I'm here in my antiquity,

hoping to do some good
in the world.

- I had always admired
William Kunstler,

even as a very young person.

I watched his work
in the Chicago Eight,

which later became
the Chicago Seven trial.

He fought the House

of Un-American Activities
Committee.

He represented Dr. King.

He represented
the Black Panthers,

the anti-war movement,
the American Indian movement,

and it's like, "Wow.

That's who I want to be
when I grow up."

- Civil rights specialist
William Kunstler

and Harvard Law School's
Alan Dershowitz say

they have proof that police
withheld evidence

of a possible Ku Klux Klan
suspect

out of fear.

- We're asking to have
an opportunity

to see all the files.

Let's have a fair fight.

Let's have
a true scientific test,

and let the chips fall
where they may

without any loaded dice.

- And, of course, we had
the amazing Bobby Lee Cook.

He was already
a legendary figure

in Georgia legal circles.

♪ ♪

- There's no other way to talk
about Bobby Lee Cook

other than brilliant.

They say the "Matlock"
television series

was based on Bobby Lee Cook.

- We've heard some
pretty confusing testimony

around here lately.

First, Lucas perjures himself,

and then your wife
perjures herself.

What's going on?

♪ ♪

- So we had
a pretty all-star team.

The hearings were down
in Butts County,

about an hour
outside of Atlanta.

That's where
the electric chair is,

down there,
Butts County.

♪ ♪

The hearings are set
in this old courtroom.

The press was there.

The courtroom was full,

and it played itself out
pretty big.

- You ladies and gentlemen
ready to proceed now?

- Yes, we are.

Judge, we'd like
to begin this proceeding

with a short overview.

We will present a plethora
of undisclosed documents

and evidence
that we have collected

since the trial.

We do expect to show
that Williams, in fact,

was denied
his constitutional rights

in a very abundant fashion.

- The first witness today,
Billy Joe Whitaker,

says he worked
as a police informant

during the missing
and murdered investigation.

- Why did you come
to see me?

I believe you called me,
did you not?

- Yes, sir.
- And why did you do that?

- I figured, "Well,

"here's a man
in a penitentiary,

"been there eight or ten years,

"and I know he's not guilty
of what--

the ones
they convicted him of."

He might've killed
the rest of them.

I don't know about that.

But I knew in my own mind,

and the GBI knew it,
that this man didn't--

he didn't kill
those two people.

- That's the reason
you came to me?

- Yes, sir.

- Billy Whitaker

was a confidential informant

who had infiltrated the Klan.

- Hail victory.

all: Hail victory!

- Hail victory.

all: Hail victory!

- The first I heard
of potential Klan involvement

was a detective with Atlanta

named Aubrey Melton.

♪ ♪

Melton came forward
to the GBI

with a confidential informant.

Melton was a good street cop,

but we had the capacity

to bring more resources
to the table.

We took the informant's
information very seriously.

My boss detached me

to head up
the Klan investigation.

[marchers chanting]

The Klan was engaged

in a lot of activity
at the time.

They were marching
on weekends,

and they were
very disruptive.

[marchers chanting]

The Klan clearly had

every right to march
and protest...

- Go home, nigger!

- But when you enter
criminal activity,

they crossed the line

to bring our attention
to them.

♪ ♪

- The GBI investigation
focuses on the Sanders family.

There are six brothers,

and the Sanders brothers
are involved

in an offshoot of the Klan

called the National
States' Rights Party,

or the NSRP.

It was initially founded
by J.B. Stoner.

- Only way Forsyth County
can have law and order

and peace and tranquility...

both: Is keep the niggers out.

- And they basically said
the KKK

were not radical enough.

One of their earliest recruits

was Joseph Paul Franklin,

who was going
around the country

shooting any integrated couple
that he saw.

So that's just--you know,
give you some idea

about the NSRP.

- White power!
all: White power!

- One of their chief officers

was Donald Willard Sanders.

He's a third-ranking officer

under J.B. Stoner

[foreboding music]

He was one
of the six brothers

in the Sanders clan.

♪ ♪

They were notorious
drug addicts.

I mean, they shot
every drug in the book,

and they sold
every drug in the book.

The main suspects
were the older brothers,

Don Sanders,
Jerry Sanders,

and Charles Sanders.

♪ ♪

- How long had you known
Charles T. Sanders?

- Well, at that time,
I'd probably known him

ten years.

Charles said--

he was always trying to get me
to join the Klan, you know,

and...

they said they had
a lot of money behind them,

people I didn't know,

and people even he didn't know,
he said.

Charles took me downstairs

in the garage.

They had bazookas,
they had--

- Bazookas?

- Bazookas, yeah.

They had hand grenades.

They had C-2 and C-4
explosives.

Well, they had
police uniforms,

Atlanta police uniforms.
They had...

- The Sanders brothers had
all these different uniforms.

- Had DeKalb County
uniform.

- Coca-Cola,
Purolator.

- They had
sanitation uniforms.

- So maybe this let them be
in certain places undetected.

[suspenseful music]

- One of the theories
was that the perpetrator

had to be somebody
that was gonna

walk around that neighborhood

almost invisible,

so like a postman

or a police officer.

♪ ♪

- It's possible
that these children

are being captured by the Klan

dressed in law enforcement
uniforms.

- You know, everybody,
everything evolves,

and the Klan had evolved.

They had this idea where we're
going to start a race war.

- We're convinced
that there's a race war

that is inevitable
in this country.

We feel that there will
be so much shooting

and burning and looting
and rioting

that literally, the authorities

will not be able to cope
with it.

- So what will Klansmen do?

- Well, we're gonna defend
ourselves and our property

and help assist other people
in doing the same.

- At the time, there
was a lot of uncertainty

about who was going to control
the political structure,

who was going to control
the economic resources,

and the Klan was empowered.

They were making
their presence felt.

- It was like this was a plan

to diminish Atlanta's
and Maynard Jackson's success.

♪ ♪

- These were not people
who were simply

play-acting at being bad guys.

And so Aubrey Melton persuaded

the GBI to apply
for wiretap warrants,

which can only be made
on the showing

of probable cause
to believe the people involved

had committed a crime,

in this case,
the child murders.

- They wanted me to wear a bug.

- Did you agree to that?

- I didn't care what they did.
You know, I was trying--

- You agreed to it.
- I was trying to help them

catch the people doing that.

- How did they wire you up?

- They just put it on me
and taped it around me.

- While the wiretap
was in progress,

we also conducted
physical surveillance.

[machine clicking]

- There were,
to the best of your knowledge,

dozens, if not hundreds,
of those tapes.

Isn't that right?

- There were several

reel-to-reel tapes made.

When you monitor,
you monitor 24/7,

from when they get up
to when they go to bed,

hours and hours,
days and days of tapes.

- Was there ever
any conversation that you had

that was recorded

with reference to what
Charles Sanders

and his group were doing
with children?

- They was killing niggers.
That's what he said.

He told me,
"We're killing niggers.

We're gonna start
killing females too."

[disquieting music]

♪ ♪

He said, "We killed a lot
of these fucking niggers."

♪ ♪

- When a man is charged
with the killing of 29 people,

and they charge him for two,

there's a lot
of unanswered questions.

- Like what?

- Like what happened
to the other 27?

There was 29.
He was convicted on 2.

- [coughs]

- I'd be interested
to know what happened--

- John, you ain't rolling that,
are you?

- Hmm?
- Yes.

- You're not rolling this,
are you?

- Yes.
- I'm rolling.

- I would think there's a lot
of unanswered questions.

You don't?
I mean...

there's 27 unsolved mysteries
out there.

And your name is surfacing

in connection with...

[paper rustling]

In connection
with this quote that...

"Yeah, we damn sure did.

We killed a lot
of them niggers."

- That's a blatant lie.

That's a blatant lie
from Mr. Bill Whitaker,

and that's a blatant lie
from the defense.

- You reported all of this
to Mr. Melton.

- Well, I told him
I knew about--

about one of those kids
getting killed,

who it was that did it,

and he had told me
he was gonna do it,

and it happened.

I read it in the paper,
so I called Melton.

- All right.
What'd you tell Mr. Melton?

- Well, I told him that
I believed Charles Sanders

of the Ku Klux Klan

killed this one kid
named Geter.

This little kid
run into his van.

- What little kid?

- Geter, on a go-cart.

He lost control of it,

and he run into the side
of that van.

- Geter ran into Sanders's car
with the go-cart?

- Yeah, and he said,
"I'm gonna"--

well, I don't want to say that.
- Use the words that he said.

This is a court,
court of law,

and use the words
that he said.

- Well, you got ladies in here.

- That's all right.
You go ahead.

- Well, he said,
"I'm gonna kill

"that little black bastard,

"and I'm gonna choke him
to death with my dick

and put him
on Martin Luther King's grave."

- You reported all of this
to Mr. Melton.

- To Melton, yeah.

- Whitaker was able to link
one of the Sanders

to the case of Lubie Geter,

whose death
was ultimately used

against Wayne Williams

as one of the ten
pattern cases.

That's significant,
because that actually ties

a member of the Klan

directly to one of the children

that Wayne was credited
with murdering.

[somber music]

♪ ♪

- I had known Lubie
probably from the sixth grade.

Lubie and I were friends
and classmates.

He was a good kid.

You know, he got in trouble
like I did in school

a few times,

talking in class,

maybe talking back to teachers
here and there,

but normal, fun, loving kid.

♪ ♪

He was one of the few kids
in our community

that still had both parents
active in his life.

♪ ♪

I remember, like,
before Christmas break,

Lubie was talking to us.

He was telling us about these
car care product

that he was selling.

But close to when school
opened back up again

after the Christmas break,

we saw on the news
that Lubie was missing.

- 14-year-old Lubie Geter

went to a South Side
Atlanta shopping center

on Saturday to sell
air fresheners

for automobiles.

He never came home.

- Police say, so far,
they're stumped.

- A month afterwards
is when they found his body.

♪ ♪

After he was found dead,

there were some nights
I didn't sleep.

♪ ♪

There was always a ringing bell
in the back of my head, like,

normal, you know,
Atlanta teenager.

How could he get caught up
in the middle of this?

♪ ♪

- This Mr. Whitaker says

that he asked Sanders
specifically

about 14-year-old Lubie Geter.

♪ ♪

- Well, I can remember this
very clearly.

Uh, Mr. Whitaker had
brought this to my attention

a couple days
after Lubie Geter was killed.

And he was telling me

that he was gonna kill
that...black boy

because he run into my car.

- Well, that's what he's saying
you said.

- True.

He's turning it around.

That's not the way it happened.

- Did there come a point
in time

in which they sent you
to Charles Sanders's house

and wanted you to ask
specific questions

about the Geter boy?

- Yeah.

I said, "Well, you killed
that damn Geter kid,

didn't you?"

He said, "Yeah,
I damn sure did.

I killed
the little black bastard."

- Was that recorded?

- I assume it--I don't know
why it wouldn't have--

if they didn't get it, I don't
know why they didn't get it.

- Charles T. Sanders
admitted killing Geter.

- The next witness,

former Atlanta police chief
George Napper

says he does not remember

his officers ever telling him

about possible Klan
involvement.

- He had told them
about the Klan being involved

in the child murders?

- No, I don't recall that
at all.

- Well, you say
"I don't recall."

That's your answer to a lot
of questions here today.

Does that mean
you don't recall,

he might have told you,

or you have no memory now,
or it didn't happen?

- I don't know
whether it happened or not.

- You have
a black man testifying.

- I don't think so, no.

- You mean to tell me that

the Klan is involved

in the missing and murdered
children case,

and you don't remember?

They knew about it.

- I don't recall that
happening.

- You know, they gave a lot
of disingenuous answers.

- Have you ever seen
that document before?

- Not that I know of.
I don't recall, so.

I don't remember.
I--you know, I'm sure

he said something,
I just don't remember

that the--
that there was anything said

other than that,
if there was information

pertaining
to our investigation,

that they would let us know
what was going on.

- I'm afraid that at this time,

I'm not clear
on exactly what to report.

- Push the mic up a little bit.
There.

- I don't know.
- I do not know.

I don't recall that.
- I don't recall.

- My answer is,
I don't recall.

- I don't recall
that I remember

exactly that it said
Lubie Geter.

- I don't know.

- You ever had
any discussion about that?

- I don't have a recall, sir.

♪ ♪

- But that would be bad,
now, wouldn't it?

- Well, it's getting
to the point.

It's right lunchtime.
All right.

- We're hearing
about some lapses

of memory here.

Do you believe these gentlemen
when they say they don't--

- No, I don't.

These are convenient lapses
of memory.

Can you imagine
the chief of police

can't recall
anything that happened

in the most major investigation
in the history of Atlanta,

if not of Georgia?

And he can't remember anything?

I can't recall this,
I can't recall that.

He can't recall
that someone confessed

to the murder of Lubie Geter?

Impossible.

- Because of the nature
of the case,

the sensitivity
of the case,

we went far above
and beyond.

It is very uncommon
that you would run

multiple
electronic surveillances,

multiple
physical surveillances.

[machine clicking]

- The GBI looked for anything
associated with the case.

They looked for fiber.

They looked for dogs.

- Trace evidence in the case
included dog hair

that most likely belonged
to a husky

or a malamute.

The Klansmen had a dog.

- Did anyone ask you

to check and see
if Charles Sanders had a dog?

- Yes, sir.

- And what did they
want to know?

- Well, they wanted
some hair off the dog,

and I--

- Hair off of what dog?

- Charles Sanders' dog.

- What kind of dog
did Charles Sanders have?

- Alaskan husky.

- A husky?
- Yes, sir.

- Did you ever own a dog?

- Yes.

- A Alaskan malamute?

- No, I never had a...

- And a Siberian husky.

- Well, my dog Trigger,

sh--she was pretty close
to a Siberian,

but it was a German shepherd.

I had a German shepherd.

She was pretty close
to a Siberian.

But had a little
shih tzu puppy,

and I had a German shepherd,

and I also had a pig
by the name of Sausage.

- Did Mr. Melton
and the GBI officer

ask you to get anything else?

- Well, he said,

"Well, will you get me
something out of the house?"

I said, "Yeah, if I can."

He told me just reach down
on the carpet

in the living room
and get a little--

you know, just a speck
or something--

you know, just whatever
I could pull out.

- What kind of carpet was it?

- Uh, this old green
fuzzy carpet.

- So okay, there's
a green fiber here as well.

- And then there's
a conversation

in April that was recorded.

Terry Sanders says,
"Hey, where you going?

Out to get
another little kid?"

And Don Sanders said,
"Well, yeah,

scope out some places."

A few weeks later,
the GBI brought in

Jerry Sanders, Don Sanders,

and Charles Sanders.

- Were you ever picked up?
- Yes, I was.

- Can you tell me
about that?

- Uh, Mr. Joe Jackson,
GBI investigator,

took me to GBI headquarters

and interrogated me.

I was accused
of distributing explosives.

Uh...

I was accused of killing
a young man

by the name of Lubie Geter,

which I don't know
nothing about.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

You know, they questioned me
extensively.

Uh...

and then they took me
back to my house.

♪ ♪

I think Mr. Jackson realized

that I had no knowledge

of his investigation.

♪ ♪

- Anyway, there came
a point in time

in which you ceased working
for the GBI and Mr. Melton.

What blew up
this investigation?

When did it stop?

- Well...

- Must be something
that happened.

- Well, this man's
not gonna like it,

but I'm gonna tell it
like it is.

A agent named Jackson,
a GBI agent.

- Jackson?
- Yeah, which--

when Melton told me
about it,

he said a goddamn idiot
GBI agent

blowed it,
blowed everything.

I said, "Who is it?"
He said,

"That son of a bitch
named Jackson."

[mic scraping]
- State your full name, please.

- Joe Bledsoe Jackson, Jr.

- Did you ask either Terry
or Don Sanders

about a conversation

about scoping out
some children?

- Mr. Cook...
- Finding another kid?

- Judge, I'd like
the opportunity

to discuss this matter
with counsel.

- I'd like for him
to answer the question.

- The question is,
did you ask

either of the Sanders that
during interviews?

- Yes, sir.
- Okay.

Now, Judge, if you don't mind,

could you and I
go into chambers?

- No, no, I'm not
going into chambers.

Mr. Jackson,
let's just simplify this.

Answer his question now.

- Yes, sir.

- [clears throat]
- Well,

what did Terry or Don Sanders
say about that?

- They stated--
- That they were just joking?

- That's correct, sir.

They related to me
that it was a joking

type of conversation.

- Talking about killing
little kids

being a joking conversation.

Did you laugh with them?

- Mr. Cook, the conversation
that you refer to

took place
on April Fools' Day.

- Oh, I see.
That was their explanation,

that the conversation
took place

on April Fools' Day?

- That's correct, sir.

- And you accepted that
as being a good faith reply?

- That, along with the other
surveillance techniques

that we were utilizing
during this time period.

- And then there's
a matter of the tapes.

- This case generated
a number of cassette tapes.

- Yes.
- What became of those?

- The tapes,
to my knowledge,

have been destroyed.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- Wayne Williams was arrested
on June 3, 1981.

It says "destroyed 7/31/81."

- Yes, sir.
- And whose initial is that?

- Those are my initials.

- GBI agent Jackson

destroyed the tapes

while Wayne's original trial
was pending,

which looks very suspicious.

Why would they destroy
the evidence?

- Did you listen to all
of the tape recordings?

- I don't remember listening
to each of them, no, sir.

- Well, wouldn't you have
listened to all of them?

- I don't know
that I heard them all.

I may have.

I don't remember.

- You say you may have
heard all of them?

- That's correct.

- And no record
was made of it.

No transcript.

- I don't think so.

- And you were investigating

the missing
and murdered children.

- What I was investigating

was whether or not
this particular group

had anything to do with it...

- Right.
- And they did not.

- And they did not,
and you concluded that.

- Yes, sir.
- And you don't remember

what was on the tapes

'cause you don't even know

that you listened
to all of them.

- Well, sir, Mr. Cook,
what I do recall for certain

is that there was no mention

in any form or fashion

in which these people
were killing any children.

- Well, how would you know that

if you don't remember
hearing the tapes?

- Uh, it just--that's the way
I recall it.

There's no tie whatsoever
to any murders.

[uneasy music]

♪ ♪

- You know,
these are Klansmen, rednecks,

who spewed racial rhetoric
every day,

just people
running their mouths.

Sanders was brought in
and polygraphed,

which was negative.

As a result
of the searches,

examination of the fiber...

There was no indication

that the Sanders family
had killed

any of those children.

The information was determined
to be unfounded.

As a result,
the investigation was closed.

- All right,
we'll be in recess,

and if there's nothing else,
until 9:00 in the morning.

- I think Mr. Cook,

Mr. Kunstler,

Mr. Whatley,

should really look
at what they have.

If you have a case
against Charles Sanders

or his family,

put it up, or else shut up.

- You know, other
than him boasting

that he was going to do this,

there was no evidence
he had done it.

- Anything else?
- The end.

[laughing]

- And the evidence
on Lubie Geter,

none of it pointed
to Charles Sanders.

In other words,
there was nothing there

other than a Klansman
bragging, apparently,

to another Klansman

about something that...

didn't happen.

- If had been the Sanders,

I would've been the first
to put the handcuffs on them.

Uh, it wasn't the Sanders,

and we moved on.

♪ ♪

- I was never willing
to go so far as to say

that members
of the Sanders family

were guilty,

but we will never
actually know for sure,

because the tapes
were destroyed.

- [laughs]

- What I do think:

there was at least as much
reliable evidence

against the Sanders family

for one or more
of those killings

than there was
against Wayne Williams,

and I also believe
beyond any possible doubt

that had the jury learned

of the Sanders family
involvement,

of the threats
against Lubie Geter,

Sanders' husky,

I do think the jury
may have come

to a very, very different
conclusion.

- Were these people
simply incompetent,

or was there some--
- Was who incompetent?

- The police investigation.

- Well, I don't--

I don't want
to characterize it as that.

I don't know what they were.
- I think I know what it was.

- You know, I'll let them
speak for themselves.

- All right.
- I'll speak,

not being from Georgia.

This was a device

to a keep a race war
from happening,

and if they indicted
someone from the Klan,

that's what was gonna happen,
in their opinion,

and if they indicted someone
who was black,

it would not happen.

And they made
a calculated choice.

They wanted to sacrifice
Wayne Williams

in order to keep the peace.

[uneasy music]

- After Wayne Williams
became a suspect,

all of these other
investigations

were closed.

Anything that suggested
Wayne could be innocent

was simply cast aside

because Wayne Williams
solved a lot of problems.

- Not saying that Wayne
did it or didn't do it.

I don't know.

But had they pinned this

on somebody white,

especially somebody related
to the Klan,

there would have been riots
all over America.

America would have been
upside down.

The fact that they pinned this
on somebody black

shut it down.

♪ ♪

- They are killing
little children in the city!

- They did not want
a second Atlanta burning.

♪ ♪

Maynard Jackson had gotten
the airport,

and he had gotten
all this business.

They did not want it
to be destroyed.

♪ ♪

- All rise.

Court is now in session,

Honorable Judge
Hal Craig presiding.

- The appeals became
a very long process.

- Be seated.

- And I remember thinking

enough time had gone by,

the passions had cooled,

the Klan evidence all came out
in open court,

and there was no race war.

I thought, "Maybe now

we can have
a sensible reckoning."

♪ ♪

- Williams, in fact,

was denied
his constitutional rights.

- It was a tremendous effort
on our part

to show the injustice,

and I think we showed it.

- Well, what has happened today
is this.

A Superior Court judge,
Harold Craig,

has denied Wayne Williams'
plea for a new trial.

♪ ♪

- The judge found
for the prosecution.

He upheld the conviction,

said no violation of Brady
had been made

of any significance.

- The judge said
there was nothing here

that could've been useful
in any way to the defense

except the sort of red herring
that you could throw out,

saying
"the Klan was involved,"

which we still hear
about today,

as if they were involved,

and there was no evidence
they were involved.

So the judge
on the habeas corpus said

there's nothing
they could've used.

- Eh...

it's the worst trial
I've ever seen.

It's the worst situation

of unfairness
and the deprivation of fairness

that I've seen in 43 years
of law practice.

You know, it's a damn disgrace.

- When the decision came out,

Bill Kunstler said,

talking about white people,

quote, "They're all
such bullshitters

when it comes
to a black man's life."

Close quote.

[melancholy music]

♪ ♪

It was that
dashed expectation

that sort of gave rise
to my motto

of the ensuing years,

which is,
"I have no expectations.

I only have hopes."

Because disappointment
is a function of expectations,

and mine, now, pretty low
from the legal system.

♪ ♪

- It's this enormous
injustice.

For the Georgia Bureau
of Investigation to say

that they found no evidence

of the Sanders brothers
being involved

is hogwash.

♪ ♪

There were a number of cases
where they found

Caucasian pubic hairs
and other hairs on the kids.

They should have known
at that point

that they were looking
for a white man.

When I'm going
through the GBI file,

certain elements struck me

about Don Sanders.

Again, he's secretary

of the National States'
Rights Party,

who's trying to start
a race war.

Now, this is a 1975 mug shot
of Don Sanders.

You will notice a scar
on his cheek

and a long scar
on his neck.

This, of course,
brings me back

to the FBI file

along with the Atlanta
Police Department files.

Then you have
these eyewitness accounts.

For example,

in the Christopher Richardson
case,

you've got a eyewitness
saying they saw this white man

kidnap Richardson,

this witness describing
the scar

like an arrow on his face.

♪ ♪

And then you see Don Sanders.

Right by his mouth,

he has a cut scar
on his left cheek.

♪ ♪

A very noticeable scar.

It fits Don Sanders.

♪ ♪

And I sort of just compare
the GBI file

with the FBI file

to find out
what else could be a match.

Is there another nexus
between those two files?

This is an example
of an FBI file

on the investigation.

As you can see,
they are heavily redacted,

where names, basic descriptions
are taken out.

As compared to these files,

which is from the Georgia
Bureau of Investigation.

There is no redactions.

And you can then
put the two together,

you know, synthesize the data
that you're looking at.

This is from the FBI file.

In February of 1981,

this white male
chases this ten-year-old kid

home from school.

The boy runs under the bed
and locks the door.

The guy breaks the door down,

tries to the find the kid,

but the kid is hiding
under the bed, so he leaves.

A few hours later,
this guy comes back.

The kid and his mother
see this white male

staring through the window.

He's got blue eyes,

and he has a scar.

This suspect in question
had no facial hair.

On March 1st,
the same ten-year-old

goes into
the FBI headquarters,

and he's shown a photo lineup,

picks out--he says
this is definitely the man

who chased him
about a month earlier,

but in this photograph,

he's wearing a full beard.

"When he chased me,
he was clean-shaven."

♪ ♪

Now, at the same time,

in February of '81
into early March,

the agent in charge
of the GBI investigation

of the Sanders notices
that he's changed

his appearance completely.

He's cut his hair
a little bit,

and he has
a well-manicured beard now,

whereas he had been
clean-shaven

a few weeks before.

This matches up
with a suspect

here in the FBI document,
whose name is redacted.

Again, he had a full beard
in March,

and so did Don Sanders

in this GBI file.

♪ ♪

The dots are connected.

The beard changing
at the same time

and then the scar--
it all adds up.

I think Don Sanders
has to be the man

whose name is blacked out
in the FBI file.

[suspenseful music]

I said, "Oh, my God,
they've been trying

"to cover this up
for 40 years,

and they slipped up."

- I think the file
shows very clearly

that the Sanders
were involved.

I'm speculating,
but seems like

the Atlanta police
investigator Aubrey Melton

was the origin
of how all those files

got to me.

He knew they were sweeping it
up under the rug,

and he put his career
on the line

for the truth.

- Aubrey Melton ought
to be commended for that.

You know, that's what
Shakespeare said about murder.

Murder always leaves
a silent witness.

To me, those documents
are a silent witness

showing the Sanders brothers
are involved

in killing those kids.

♪ ♪

- Look at the whole record,

and it seems like
there's several strands

of killings.

You have the Sanders
and the Ku Klux Klan.

You had pedophilia
going on:

Wilcoxen
and Tom Terrell,

convicted pedophiles.

You have witnesses
to Jamie Brooks

with Clifford Jones.

They didn't follow those leads.

They chose Wayne.

♪ ♪

- You know, I always felt

that this is one
of those mysteries

that will remain a mystery

because we blew it
from the beginning.

There were just
all these questions,

and we never got
good answers.

♪ ♪

- The questions
kept coming up.

The case had been so much
about fiber evidence,

and just a few years back,

the Justice Department
sent me a letter.

They said
there was a problem

with the whole process

by the FBI crime lab.

♪ ♪

- FBI lab evidence
in some of this country's

most high-profile
criminal cases

and a whole lot more

could be called
into question now,

this months
after an FBI whistleblower

accused the FBI crime lab
of shoddy and sloppy work.

- The FBI laboratory was in
the J. Edgar Hoover Building,

and that building
was not built

to hold a laboratory.

Immediately upon walking
into the laboratory in 1986,

I saw it was
a filthy environment.

Some of the equipment
was way outdated.

A lot of it was rusty--
literally rusty.

I was working
in a trace analysis unit

where we were looking for

tiny, tiny, tiny amounts
of material.

The air system
that was in the laboratory--

the air ducts were lined
with fiberglass,

and fiberglass
started breaking down.

And when the air system
came back on,

all this stuff would rain down
on our equipment,

and we referred to it
as black rain.

I took Scotch tape,

and I put it around
on surfaces

and I put it
under the microscope,

and it literally took
my breath away.

I was looking at countless--

and I'm not talking
about 100 or 1,000.

I'm talking about--

if there was such a thing
as a zillion,

there were just fibers
everywhere,

and it was coming down
into areas

that we were doing
fiber analysis,

and we had no idea

whether they came
from crime scenes

or whether they came
from the laboratory itself.

We're gonna put human beings
in cages and death chambers

based upon that environment?
No, sir.

I hadn't been there long

when I talked
to my training agent.

I said, "You know,
this is gonna come out

in court sometime,"
and his response was,

"Before you embarrass the FBI,

"you'll commit perjury
in court.

We all do it."

Then I go to his boss,

and I took that go-to-boss
up over about...

oh, six years, whatever,

from boss to boss
to boss to boss,

and about 1995,
the media got hold of it,

and then it got a life
of its own.

- For years, the FBI lab
has been world-renowned

for coming up with clues
that break cases.

Now a new investigation shows
that for years,

the lab may have been
turning out mistakes.

- Scientifically flawed
testimony,

inaccurate testimony,

testimony beyond

the laboratory examiner's
expertise.

- It just ballooned.

The FBI and the U.S.
Department of Justice

reopened thousands of cases.

♪ ♪

In April of 2015,

the FBI announced

that 26 of 28 hair examiners

had provided
misleading testimony

95% percent of the time

over a 30-year period of time

in court.

26 of 28.

- Whitehurst is now
cataloguing the files

and offering his opinions

on mistakes made in cases

ranging from
the World Trade Center bombing

to Oklahoma City

and hundreds of local murders
in between.

- Wayne Williams' case
was worked on

by the same group of people

in the same processing areas

under the same black rain.

♪ ♪

- It wasn't just
the fiber evidence.

Based on victim type,

where the bodies
were found,

and the eyewitnesses
that saw Wayne Williams

with victims...

I'm 100% certain

that Wayne Williams
is the killer.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

Keep in mind, the pattern

of juvenile
and young adult homicides

stopped after the arrest
of Wayne Williams.

- The killings stopped.
He can't do this anymore.

He's done.

- No, I don't think
the killings stopped

because of Wayne Williams
being arrested.

I think what happened
is that

the most probable suspects
went to jail

around the same time

as Wayne's arrest.

When the Sanders brothers
were taken into custody,

they were told point-blank,

"We have information
that you are connected

to some of the murders."

Well, of course then,
they're on notice,

so they have to stop.

Now, at the same time,

the prime
Clifford Jones suspect,

Tom Terrell,

David Wilcoxen,

they were all arrested
and thrown in jail,

and that's why
the killings stopped.

- No, these
were outlandish rumors

with no substance
to back them up.

There was nobody identified
as a viable suspect

other than Wayne Williams.

♪ ♪

The evidence in this case
is airtight in my opinion,

and I think, if somebody
looks at it objectively,

it should prove it to them

that Wayne Williams is guilty.

But some of the parents
are still not satisfied

with the investigation.

- This is one
of the favorite pictures.

We had just left church
that Easter.

Patrick would be married
with kids

and probably went on
to the service

like his rest of his brothers.

[somber music]

Just broke my heart.

♪ ♪

You know, it's--probably
was a time that I said

that, you know, in my heart,
I really do believe

that Wayne Williams
killed Patrick Balt--

I remember saying that.

And then there's a time,
you know,

I don't believe Wayne Williams
killed nobody.

And then it was a time,
yeah, maybe he did kill

Nathaniel Cater
and Jimmy Ray Payne,

because I have been put
in a situation

that, you know,
you don't know what to believe,

so that means
that you just believe

every damn thing.

You know, so to hell with that.

I don't know.

I wasn't there.

♪ ♪

- If you look
at Wayne Williams' case

and say, "I don't know
what happened,"

"I don't know"

connects to "not guilty"
in our system of law.

That does not mean
he's an innocent man.

♪ ♪

- Wayne has grown up
in jail.

♪ ♪

If Wayne got out of jail,
where would he go?

Um, I don't--his mother's dead.
His father's dead.

I don't know what kind of life
he would have.

But I think he's entitled
to find out.

♪ ♪

- His parents were supportive
of him to the end.

I just hate
that they had to die

not knowing what had become
of their son.

♪ ♪

- I don't think Atlanta
wants him released.

I don't think they want
the case regurgitated,

brought back up again,

and I think Wayne is--

is gonna be in prison
for the rest of his life.

♪ ♪

- Growing up in America,

I thought it was
the land of opportunity.

I thought that my people,
black people,

had made our strides
during the Civil Rights era.

We had made progress.

But after years
of this nightmare,

I have found out that

there is no justice

in the criminal justice system

in the United States
of America.

Nobody's concerned
about whether you're innocent

or whether you're guilty.

♪ ♪

- He's truly an evil person

because he presents himself now
as being so innocent

and he's victimizing
the families again.

He killed their kids.
Now he's using them again

to put himself out there
and say,

"Hey, I'm innocent.
I didn't do it.

It's not me."
And, you know, it's just...

They were throwaways.

You know, their families
didn't want them

or they're out on their own.

It was sad, you know.

They're just kids,
but they didn't have a chance,

most of them,
and they fell prey

to this lunatic.

[high piano music]

♪ ♪

- I don't want
this investigation

to become

a "Free Wayne Williams"
campaign.

To the extent
that there's evidence

that shows that it was not him,

I think that justice
will take its course.

But I really want this
to be about the children

and the unanswered questions
for many of the families.

♪ ♪

- I'm hopeful we find
some evidence.

You know, it's a long shot.

This is really about being able

to look at the families,
the moms, the dads,

and say, "We have done
everything possible."

And so we are just
very methodically

pulling in
the boxes of evidence,

looking at the cases
chronologically.

It's gonna take time.

- 2020, it'll be 40 years.

They should've did that
40 years ago,

not 40 years...

They should've been did it.

They should've been
done something.

- Come on.
29 to 30 kids,

and you mean to tell me

nobody had an answer
for 30 kids?

[mournful music]

We're not worth it,

is what you're telling me.

I want my brother, and
I want all the other children,

to be worth something

so they can sleep.

- It's 40 years ago.

How many people have
handled this over the years?

I don't think
they're gonna find anything.

♪ ♪

- You think that this
is really trying

to get to the bottom
of all this?

- N...

♪ ♪

No.

This reinvestigation
is about cleaning up,

just trying to clean up

the legacy of Atlanta.

♪ ♪

- The man considered
the main suspect

in the Atlanta child murders

will stay in prison.

The state denied
Wayne Williams' appeal

for parole.

- His next opportunity
will be in 2027.

- Atlanta's a city of images.

It's a PR place.

It's what looks good
and what we can project

to the world--
"World's busiest airport."

♪ ♪

- When this took place,

Atlanta was on the rise.

They felt like Atlanta
was being attacked

by us defending Wayne Williams.

♪ ♪

Everything we brought out,

people thought about it

as a reflection on Atlanta.

♪ ♪

- It's a very different
Atlanta now

because there was a plan

of what Atlanta
was gonna be.

♪ ♪

- It's kind of crass.

We want to have
the clout and the class,

but none
of the public housing projects

remain at all.

They've all been torn down,

black folks pushed out.

♪ ♪

And few, if any,
of the people who lived there

found homes there again.

♪ ♪

- After Clifford passed away,

we moved across town,

and then we moved
back to Chattanooga.

I would never move
to Atlanta again.

I'm mad at Atlanta.

I'm pissed off at Atlanta,
for real.

I just feel like they did
our family wrong.

[somber music]

When Clifford passed away,

I almost tried to, like,
block it out

like it was a bad dream.

♪ ♪

I guess I went
into a deep depression.

♪ ♪

Clifford was buried
at the National Cemetery

in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

I've never been back
over there

since we buried him.

I got past it, and...

♪ ♪

Just holding onto this,
it was

mentally tearing me down.

♪ ♪

I finally felt
like it was time

to come and see him.

♪ ♪

I just want the world to know
we love Clifford.

♪ ♪

- Me, personally, myself,

nothing would give me
a peace of mind or closure.

Just want to know
who and why.

♪ ♪

- I think that the notion
of closure

is something that people
who are not directly involved

make up.

I don't know
what constitutes closure

for a murdered child.

♪ ♪

- People always talking
about closure

and...mm-mm.

I can't get with this thing
about closure.

I don't think I'll ever have
peace about that,

about my son.

♪ ♪

- It's been an emotional
kind of afternoon

because a lot of families
are seeing each other

for the first time
in almost 40 years.

♪ ♪

- Good afternoon.
all: Good afternoon.

- My name
is Catherine Leach Bell.

I'm the mother
of Curtis Walker.

Curtis was very important.

He was a black America child.

And someone took him from me.

Now, that's a pain that no one
will ever forget.

[up-tempo music]

'Cause seemed like
nobody cared

nothing about what I was
going through, not nobody.

♪ ♪

But I didn't give up.

I kept going.

♪ ♪

- It hurts.

You're losing a child
and being killed like that,

and you don't know why
he being killed like that.

- It hurts.

- You don't know why
would anybody

do something to a child
like that.

That's a sick maniac.
- Come on now, come on.

- That's right.
- We went through it

40 long years,
but guess what.

We can go through it
40 more long years.

- That's right.

- Until the end.

- Till the end.
- Till the end.

Until he be caught.

- Say it!

- We can't give up.

When we die,
we can't do nothing about it.

But long as breath
is in our body,

we got our rights to find out
who did this.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[emotional string music]

♪ ♪

[bright tone]