Atlanta Child Murders/Wayne Williams FBI Files & City of Atlanta Files

Description

Atlanta Child Murders: Timeline and Key Figures

• July 1979 – May 1981: The period during which approximately 30 children and young adults disappeared and were murdered in Atlanta, Georgia. This is the core period of the “Atlanta Child Murders.”
• November 6, 1980: The U.S. Attorney General directs the FBI to participate in the investigation of the missing and murdered children. The FBI gives the case the code name “ATKID.”
• March 20, 1981: An FBI report is issued detailing the possibility that far-right organizations such as the KKK, American Nazi Party, or Minutemen might be responsible for the murders, including potential motives, methods, and supporting evidence.
• April 27, 1981: An FBI memo is issued stating that the Atlanta Bureau would institute surveillances of 14 selected bridges over the Chattahoochee River, identified as possible dumping sites for bodies.
• May 21, 1981 (Morning): Police staking out a bridge over the Chattahoochee River hear a splash. A car driven by Wayne Bertram Williams is stopped by authorities.
• May 23, 1981: The body of 27-year-old Nathaniel Cater is found downstream from the bridge where Wayne Williams’s car was stopped two days prior.
• February 27, 1982: Wayne Bertram Williams is found guilty on two counts of murder in Fulton County Superior Court, Atlanta, Georgia. He is sentenced to two consecutive life terms.
• February 29, 1982: The FBI task force investigating the Atlanta Child Murders is disbanded. They announce that 24 of the 30 cases are considered “solved” and attributed to Wayne Williams.
• March 2019: The Atlanta Police Department announces its decision to re-open the cases, hoping that modern technology will lead to new insights into the murders.
• June 21, 2021: Approximately 40% of the original DNA evidence from the cases is sent to a private lab for testing.
• July 2021: Then Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announces that new DNA evidence has been identified and sampled in two cases. This new evidence is slated for additional analysis by a private lab.

Cast of Characters

• Wayne Bertram Williams: The individual whose car was stopped by police near the Chattahoochee River on May 21, 1981. He was later found guilty on two counts of murder on February 27, 1982, and sentenced to two consecutive life terms. The FBI task force attributed 24 of the 30 Atlanta Child Murders to him.
• Nathaniel Cater: A 27-year-old victim whose body was found downstream from the Chattahoochee River bridge on May 23, 1981, two days after Wayne Williams was stopped in the vicinity.
• Maynard Jackson: The Mayor of Atlanta during the period of the murders. He believed the FBI was not providing enough assistance in the case initially. His office’s papers are included in the City of Atlanta Archives related to the investigation.
• Mildred Glover: A Georgia Representative who raised civil-rights questions regarding the case.
• Keisha Lance Bottoms: The Mayor of Atlanta in July 2021, when she announced that new DNA had been identified and sampled in two of the Atlanta Child Murder cases, and would be subjected to additional analysis.

Atlanta Child Murders/Wayne Williams FBI Files & City of Atlanta Files

5,840 pages of files from the FBI and the Atlanta City Archives covering the Atlanta Child Murders. Between July 1979 and May 1981, the disappearance and murder of 30 children and young adults occurred in Atlanta, Georgia.

Some of the bodies were found in the Chattahoochee River. On the morning of May 21, 1981, police staking out a bridge crossing the Chattahoochee heard a splash. A car driven by Wayne Bertram Williams was stopped. Two days later, the body of 27-year-old Nathaniel Cater was found downstream from the bridge. On February 27, 1982, Williams was found guilty on two counts of murder in Fulton County Superior Court, Atlanta, Georgia. He was sentenced to two consecutive life terms. Two days later the task force disbanded and announced that 24 of 30 cases were considered solved and attributed to Williams.

The Atlanta Police Department in March of 2019 announced that it would re-open the cases, hoping that modern technology will lead to new insights into the murders. On June 21, 2021, about 40% of the original DNA evidence was sent to a private lab for testing. In July of 2021, then Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced that new DNA had been identified and sampled in two cases that would be subjected to additional analysis by a private lab.

FBI Files

2,982 pages of files copied from FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C., covering the Atlanta Child Murders. The FBI gave this case the code name ATKID. The files date from 1980 to 1983. The files contain memos, letters, lab tests, and a detailed account of the trial. The files show the handling of civil-rights questions regarding the case raised by Georgia Representative Mildred Glover and others. These murders were investigated by an FBI task force that believed the crimes were linked. At the time many, including the mayor of Atlanta Maynard Jackson, believed the FBI was not giving enough assistance in the case. On November 6, 1980, the Attorney General directed the FBI to participate in the investigation of the missing and murdered children. In addition to working an independent investigation, the FBI assisted the local task force with manpower, guidance, and technical assistance.

Highlights in the files include a March 20, 1981, report on the possibility that the murders might be the work of a far-right organization such as the KKK, American Nazi Party, or Minutemen.  The report gives possible motives, methods and

supporting evidence. An April 27, 1981, memo says that the Atlanta Bureau would institute surveillances of 14 selected bridges which could be possible dumping sites over the Chattahoochee River. It was at one of these points that police encountered Wayne Williams.

City of Atlanta Archives

2,858 pages of documents from the City of Atlanta archives related to the Atlanta Child Murders.

Files include papers of the Mayor of Atlanta Maynard Jackson’s office, documents from the Committee to Stop Children’s Murders, newspaper clippings, correspondence related to the reward fund, press releases, various documents concerning Atlanta’s missing and murdered children’s cases, correspondence between Mayor Jackson and people concerned about the Atlanta cases, and bulletins on the missing children.

All files in this collection contain a text transcript of all recognizable text embedded into the graphic image of each page of each document, creating a searchable finding aid. Text searches can be done across all files in the collection.