SERIAL KILLERS > SEXUAL PREDATORS

The Atlanta Child Murders

By Marilyn Bardsley and Rachael Bell

A New Investigation in 2005

DeKalb County Police Chief Louis Graham said he plans to reopen the investigation of the murder of five boys between June, 1980 and May 1981. These five murders are part of the series called the Atlanta Child Murders.

 

The five murdered young men were Aaron Wyche, 10; Patrick Baltazar, 11; Curtis Walker, 13; Joseph Bell, 15; and William Barrett, 17.

Wayne Williams, now 47, has always maintained his innocence. Chief Graham is of the same mind:

"After Wayne Williams was arrested, there was this decision by some people to close the cases, and I have never been one to espouse that kind of investigation or paint that kind of broad brush," Graham told The Associated Press. "I have never believed that he did anything."

Chet Dettlinger told CNN he sided with Graham.

"’I do agree with Louie that Wayne Williams didn't kill anybody,’ he said. But Graham, he said, believed at the time the Ku Klux Klan may have been involved, and Dettlinger disagreed.

"’I don't know if Wayne Williams is innocent or not,’" he said. "’I just don't think they proved him guilty of anything.’"

Wayne Williams was not convicted in the murder of the five young men who are the current focus of the cold-case squad that Graham has assembled, but the cases were considered committed by one individual.

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1. Setting the Stage
2. The Looming Crisis
3. Ominous Beginning
4. Two More Boys
5. End to the Lull
6. Jefferey
7. A Murderous Rampage
8. STOP
9. Ransom
10. Witnesses to Murder
11. The List
12. Making Sense of the Crisis
13. No End In Sight
14. Links
15. A Murderous Change of Pace
16. The Jo-Jo Connection
17. Chaos
18. A Deadly April
19. The Last to Make the List
20. Dettlinger and His Map
21. A Splash From the Bridge
22. Wayne Bertram Williams
23. Up to No Good
24. Building the Case
25. Pulling it Together
26. Gearing Up
27. The Trial
28. Patterns
29. Damaging Testimony
30. Mounting Evidence
31. On the Stand
32. Going Down!
33. Fiber Analysis
34. Under a Microscope
35. Challenging Evidence
36. Probability
37. Reasonable Doubts
38. Unfair Trial?
39. Race War?
40. More Than One
41. A New Investigation in 2005
42. New Chapter 2006 — Ku Klux Klan Connection
43. New Chapter 2006 — The Child Molester Theory
44. Bibliography