The real story behind the murders of children in Atlanta in "Mindhunter"



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Welp, I think we can all agree that Mindhunter's second season was disturbing by habit! In addition to the typical group of serial killers (Hi, Charles Manson), the series featured the horrific and utterly devastating murders of Atlanta Child Murders, a series of murders that shocked the country between 1979 and 1981. least 28 children and a ton of controversy over who really committed the crimes.

Note: Before you begin, please keep in mind that this article contains troubling details about acts of violence against children. Proceed with caution.

First, some information about the murders of children in Atlanta

Honestly, I will not go into too much detail because we are talking about children. But the notorious series of murders began in 1979, when two 14-year-old boys disappeared (and were tragically found later) a few days apart. The following years saw the disappearance and death of a series of victims – mostly young African-American boys – who lived in the same neighborhood of Atlanta.

Event in Atlanta

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"Every day, every night, they seemed to find bodies," said Sheila Baltazar (whose 12-year-old son-in-law, Patrick Baltazar was killed), said New York times. "The city has been upset. There was this big black cloud on us. And we were just trying to keep our babies. "

So who committed the child murders in Atlanta?

This remains unclear. But the murders were assigned Wayne Williams, a native of Atlanta, who was convicted of murdering two adults in 1981. The killings stopped after the arrest of Williams, but he has always maintained his innocence.

Atlanta murders of children

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Here is what we know: Williams was found near the location of a suspicious body, the police found gloves and a nylon cord in the passenger seat of his car, he failed the polygraph tests and, in addition , fibers identical to those of his home. were found on several victims. Which, yeah, of course, all of this seems incriminating. But the thing is …

KKK may have been involved

According to an investigative article from Turn In 1986, the authorities concealed evidence to avoid a race war by using Williams as a scapegoat. Apparently, a white supremacist, Charles T. Sanders, was one of the first suspects in the murders of children in Atlanta, and one of his former friends anonymously claimed that he had took credit for committing these murders.

Flash-forward so far, and many parents of children killed still do not believe that it is Williams and are still looking for answers. "It seems that the missing and murdered Atlanta children have been forgotten in this city, they've been forgotten, and I do not know why," said Catherine Leach recently (whose son Curtis was murdered at 13). ). She added that Williams was a "scapegoat" and that "[the police] had to do something for us, to cool down this place in order to … pacify the parents. "

On the other hand, some of the victims' families remain convinced that Williams is the culprit. Isaac Rogers (whose 16-year-old brother was killed in 1980) stated that he had nearly been flirted by a man that he would have called Williams, claiming Williams had blocked him while he was trying to leave the house of a neighbor. "The only thing I could do was turn around, and that's what I did," he said. "I came home and started knocking on Mrs. Willie Mae's door to open it."

Whatever the case may be, the police reopen the Atlanta case

On March 21, 2019, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields announced that officials would recheck evidence of the murders, which means that Williams could be exonerated.

"I do not judge the officers. I say that with the conviction of Wayne Williams, this allowed all these boxes to be sealed, even if they contained nothing that tied the victim to Wayne Williams, "Shields said. The New York Times. "I think the investigators were under such political pressure that they could not do their job as much as they could. We will see different models, but I do not know if that will lead to an arrest. We will make progress, but I am not sure how much. "

In other words, the police attributed dozens of murders to a man who may not have committed them and finally acted. Watch a reading of Williams' reaction to the news below:

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