![]() ![]() Later, he failed multiple polygraph examinations. Investigators soon learned that his alibi was poor and that he had been arrested earlier that year for impersonating a police officer. But when the body of a young African-American man named Nathaniel Cater was found downstream two days later, more attention was paid to Williams. Lacking probable cause, authorities let Williams go. ATLANTA SERIAL KILLER DRIVERThe driver was a 23-year-old African-American freelance photographer named Wayne Williams. A car sped across the bridge, turned around in a parking lot on the other side, and sped back across the bridge. One of the groups conducting surveillance-consisting of an FBI agent, an Atlanta police officer, and two police cadets-heard a loud splash around 2:52 a.m. Members of the task force staked out the 14 bridges in the Atlanta metropolitan area that crossed the river and patiently waited. By late April, however, the killer began to change his behavior, dumping the victims’ bodies in the Chattahoochee River. The case continued through the winter and into the spring of 1981. These commonalities suggested a single killer. Their murders had no obvious motivation (in contrast, two other homicides from that period appeared to have been gang-related). ![]() Their bodies were found in desolate areas. The victims were all young African-American males who vanished in broad daylight in fairly public locations. Collectively, they focused on a dozen disappearances with several shared traits. ATLANTA SERIAL KILLER FULLOn November 17, the Bureau launched a major case investigation, devoting more than two dozen agents and other personnel to the case full time.įBI agents joined local and state law enforcement officers on a task force investigating the murders. Local politicians, the news media, and even Georgia Senator Sam Nunn asked the Department of Justice to permit FBI involvement, and the attorney general did so on November 6, 1980, authorizing a preliminary investigation. And our Behavioral Sciences Unit sent an expert to develop a profile of a possible perpetrator. Our Atlanta office helped follow up on out-of-state leads. None of the crimes appeared to fall under federal law, but Special Agent in Charge John Glover-the first African-American to lead an FBI field office-offered all the support the Bureau could give under the circumstances. The Atlanta Police Department, which-along with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation-was investigating the string of killings, asked the FBI if the federal kidnapping statute had been violated. The FBI’s involvement in the case began on Jfollowing the abduction of a 7-year-old girl. The victims were all young African-Americans, and as the death toll mounted, so did fear and tension across the city. ATLANTA SERIAL KILLER SERIESIt was the beginning of a shocking series of murders-some 29 in all-that would take place over the next 22 months in Atlanta. ![]() Both, it was soon learned, had been killed. Four days later, another teen went missing. On July 21, 1979, a 14-year-old boy disappeared. ![]()
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