Car believed used in Atlanta Child Murders removed from the backyard of a Columbus home
Car believed used in Atlanta Child Murders removed from the backyard of a Columbus home By Brett Buckner Special to the Ledger Once a central piece of evidence leading to the conviction of Wayne Williams in what became known as the Atlanta Child Murders, the old station wagon had been forgotten – left to rot among the weeds and fallen tree branches in a backyard along Meadow Drive in Columbus. That was until Wednesday afternoon when Edward Blackwelder, a retired criminal justice professor from Piedmont, Ala., retrieved it from oblivion, while a CNN camera crew captured the moment for a future documentary on the infamous case. “There were several cars introduced at trial,” Blackwelder said as two men from Carroll’s Wrecker Service out of Piedmont strapped chains to the station wagon’s bumper. “But this is the most infamous. This is the one Wayne Williams was driving when he supposedly dumped the body into the Chattahoochee.” Between the summer of 1979 and 1981, Atlanta was in the grip of serial killer when more than 20 kids, mostly boys and young men, were found murdered in a variety of ways; their bodies dumped in the river and around some of the most impoverished areas of the city. There were no suspects and few leads until the world was introduced to a self-described talent scout named Wayne Williams. Around 2 a.m. on May 22, 1981, Williams was stopped by police while driving his father’s 1970 Chevy Concur Station Wagon across the James Jackson Parkway Bridge. An officer staking out the bridge claimed to have heard a splash in the dark waters below before noticing the station wagon slowly driving away. Two days later, when the body of 27-year-old Nathaniel Cater was found floating in the Chattahoochee River, a few miles from where Williams’ car was stopped, police had their first major break. On Feb. 27, 1982, Williams was convicted of two murders and implicated in 22 more, largely based on dog hair and carpet fibers – many of which were related to the 1970 Chevy station wagon. Several years after Williams’ trial, his father, Homer, returned to his hometown of Columbus. With the case closed, the station wagon was returned. Homer continued driving it around town, occasionally taking it fishing. But after he died in 2005, it stayed parked by the shed, windows rolled down, until the doors nearly rusted shut. “It’s been back there as long as I knew (Homer) … back there just sittin’ dead to the world,” says Carrie Clark, who was Homer’s caregiver and now rents the house where he lived. “I can’t imagine why anybody would want it … just an old car.” Blackwelder, who has been close with the Williams family since the original trial and speaks with Wayne regularly, was given custody of the station wagon. “This is just what happens to evidence,” Blackwelder says. “It sits around, forgotten ‘til somebody comes along and sees it for what it is.” Blackwelder wasn’t alone on this muggy afternoon. A crew from CNN, working on a yet untitled documentary about the Atlanta Child Murders and Wayne Williams, was filming the car before it was being towed away. “I’m still collecting pieces,” says CNN executive producer Jim Polk. “I don’t even know what the puzzle looks like. We’re trying to look at both sides … I can’t promise how it’s going to come out because I don’t know how it’s going to come out.” Though Williams, who maintains his innocence, is serving two consecutive life sentences in the Georgia state prison at Reidsville, there have been continuous efforts to find new evidence that will to a new trial. That’s why Blackwelder wanted to take possession and preserve the station wagon. “Not saying that it will, but if this ever got back to trial,” Blackwelder said, “it’s better to have it and not need it than it is to need it and not have it.” Contact Brett Buckner at brett.buckner@yahoo.com.
Article by Brett Buckner
Special to the Ledger
Denise said,
June 8, 2010 at 4:15 pm
I hope we find out the truth soon. This whole case was poorly handled from the very beginning.
Jim said,
June 13, 2010 at 10:26 pm
Given that Wayne’s father Homer had access to the vehicle(s) and obviously the home re rug and other fibres, would have had a similar DNA profile to those in the hair samples found on at least one victim and bore a closer resemblance (glassess and hair most noteably) than Wayne to one of the ID sketches of a driver of suspect vehicle why was he never a suspect?
As I understand it he was a teacher and could have been familar to at least some of the victims, this would mean he could have been someone seen as a trusted figure with access. Although motive is another question.
Steve T said,
June 18, 2010 at 9:50 pm
Jim, that is good but I believe the police got the right man. His father could have been involved in the cover up or may have help, but the man the police saw on that bridge that not was Wayne not homer. You have to realize that Wayne had lost some weight and lhis face is not as full as it once was. To fully understand the case, you have to read about th work that a police conslutant did profiling the case. he was able to show a pattern of here the vitcims were from and that were all connected by Memorial drive and he notice the person was traveling east getting his vitcims. They he noticed a pattern of where the bodies were placed which is why they were on the bridge that night waiting because they were banking on him showing up that night.
You have to realize that Wayne was pretending to have a record company as well as being a scout so he was able to approach many kids that way. I know he ws taking and selling photos to the newspaper, record company, etc, but he may alos may have been a DJ as well. His whole life was set up so he can be all over city and would not look out of place. Several of the victims were into music and Wayne was going to be their manager, Patrick “Pat Man” Roders and William “Billy Star” Barnett were two of the you men that were in to music and new Wayne.
The thing about the whole case that points to Wayne is the profile of the Victim. Most of the victims were small and in fact one person told me that one of the male was 4′11 at age 14. I am willing to bet that the majority of the victitims were under 5-7. Even one of the adult male vicitim was said to be 5-1 and child like in appearance and Larry Roger was said to be midly retarded. This is very important because Wayne is not that tall and has small hands. Some people want to believe that the KKK was the one but it would stand to reason that some of the vitcims could have been close to 6 feet and heavier. The next thing is most of the older ones were drug addict and ex-cons. How easy would have been to get someone high and take advantage of them.
Dixie Hills. Wayne and his mother and father lived in Dixie Hills, a neighborhood right in the middle of where the murder victims had lived and disappeared.
Geographical Location. The one thing that connected all the murder victims was geographical location. Gender, age, and background were ruled out because boys as well as girls were being murdered. All the victims were different ages and they all had different backgrounds. Some victims were as old as twenty seven and some were as young as six. All came from diversified backgrounds. Geographical location was the one thing that they all had in common.
Edward Smith and Alfred Evans. Edward Smith was fourteen and Alfred Evans was also the same age. Edward had left a skating rink and Alfred had left his house to go see a Karate movie. Both boys were best friends. They were discovered missing on July 21, 1979 and a few days later their bodies were found. Both boys had missing clothes and were wearing items of clothing that were not theirs. Edward’s body was identified by dental records, but, sadly, Alfred’s body has never been positively identified, although his parents believe it to be him. How did both boys end up together? Did they know their killer?
bb said,
June 20, 2010 at 5:08 pm
i belive thAT THE CASE WAS NOT THAt important at thqt time due to it being blck people being murdered it would have been solved sooner had they been white