Leroy N. Soetoro
2019-03-28 09:00:44 UTC
https://www.foxnews.com/us/atlanta-child-murders-evidence-to-be-re-
examined-by-investigators
Four decades after the Atlanta area was rocked by the killings of more
than 20 children and young adults, officials announced Thursday they plan
to re-test evidence from the cases.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields,
speaking at a news conference, said that technology has changed
"considerably" since the murders and could finally give families of the
unsolved killings a definite answer as to who was behind the slayings of
their children.
"It may be there is nothing left to be tested," Bottoms told reporters.
"But I do think that history will judge us by our actions and we will be
able to say we tried."
Altogether, 29 people all of them black, most of them boys were killed
in the Atlanta area between 1979 and 1981. The man suspected in the
killings, Wayne Williams, was only convicted of killing two men.
Williams, who is black, was convicted in 1982 and is serving a life
sentence in connection with the two killings. Authorities said that animal
and other fibers linked Williams to the two killings based on technology
at the time of the trial. He has maintained his innocence, saying he was
framed and that Atlanta officials covered up evidence of a Ku Klux Klan
role in the killings to avoid a race war in the city.
Bottoms stressed that authorities are not officially re-opening the case,
but working with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to look at "every
single thing we have that is related to this case" in order to give the
case a fresh look.
"Even though there is evidence tying Williams to these 22 children, he was
only ever tried on the cases of two murdered adults," Shields said. "This
has caused some of the victims families to believe that they were never
afforded justice.
The effort will involve Atlanta Police, the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation and the Fulton County District Attorneys Office, according
to FOX5.
Bottom's announcement came a week after she announced during her State of
the City address that she is looking to form a permanent memorial to honor
the murdered children and adults. Reexamining the evidence also comes
ahead of a documentary on the cases that will soon air on the
Investigation Discovery Channel, according to The Atlanta Journal-
Constitution.
The chief said that officials plan to "painstakingly" go through all of
the boxes of evidence to see if anything can be retested or if there may
be any evidence that has never been tested because the technology did not
exist at the time.
The fact that I had to work to find out where the evidence was is
indicative that no one has gone through it exhaustively, Shields told
reporters. We need to exhaustively go through it and say, could this be
looked as evidence?
District Attorney Paul Howard, who had just started with the District
Attorneys Office at the murders, called those years a very tough time
for our community and added, many heavy hearts still exist in our
community.
Howard added the case will be the first one handled by his offices
Conviction Integrity Unit, which will allow family members and others to
make an application to review a case to see if a conviction is justified.
For Catherine Leach, whose son Curtis Walker was among those murdered, she
said she still doesn't have closure after almost 46 years.
It seems like the Atlanta Missing and Murdered Children have been
forgotten in this city. We want some closure," she told reporters. "I want
to know who killed Curtis. His case is still sitting on the shelf, getting
dusty and rusty.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
--
Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party ran out of gas and got run over by a Trump
truck.
Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for cleaning up the disaster
of the Obama presidency.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp.
ObamaCare is a total 100% failure and no lie that can be put forth by its
supporters can dispute that.
Obama jobs, the result of ObamaCare. 12-15 working hours a week at minimum
wage, no benefits and the primary revenue stream for ObamaCare. It can't
be funded with money people don't have, yet liberals lie about how great
it is.
Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he was in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood queer
liberal democrat donors.
--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ***@netfront.net ---
examined-by-investigators
Four decades after the Atlanta area was rocked by the killings of more
than 20 children and young adults, officials announced Thursday they plan
to re-test evidence from the cases.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields,
speaking at a news conference, said that technology has changed
"considerably" since the murders and could finally give families of the
unsolved killings a definite answer as to who was behind the slayings of
their children.
"It may be there is nothing left to be tested," Bottoms told reporters.
"But I do think that history will judge us by our actions and we will be
able to say we tried."
Altogether, 29 people all of them black, most of them boys were killed
in the Atlanta area between 1979 and 1981. The man suspected in the
killings, Wayne Williams, was only convicted of killing two men.
Williams, who is black, was convicted in 1982 and is serving a life
sentence in connection with the two killings. Authorities said that animal
and other fibers linked Williams to the two killings based on technology
at the time of the trial. He has maintained his innocence, saying he was
framed and that Atlanta officials covered up evidence of a Ku Klux Klan
role in the killings to avoid a race war in the city.
Bottoms stressed that authorities are not officially re-opening the case,
but working with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to look at "every
single thing we have that is related to this case" in order to give the
case a fresh look.
"Even though there is evidence tying Williams to these 22 children, he was
only ever tried on the cases of two murdered adults," Shields said. "This
has caused some of the victims families to believe that they were never
afforded justice.
The effort will involve Atlanta Police, the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation and the Fulton County District Attorneys Office, according
to FOX5.
Bottom's announcement came a week after she announced during her State of
the City address that she is looking to form a permanent memorial to honor
the murdered children and adults. Reexamining the evidence also comes
ahead of a documentary on the cases that will soon air on the
Investigation Discovery Channel, according to The Atlanta Journal-
Constitution.
The chief said that officials plan to "painstakingly" go through all of
the boxes of evidence to see if anything can be retested or if there may
be any evidence that has never been tested because the technology did not
exist at the time.
The fact that I had to work to find out where the evidence was is
indicative that no one has gone through it exhaustively, Shields told
reporters. We need to exhaustively go through it and say, could this be
looked as evidence?
District Attorney Paul Howard, who had just started with the District
Attorneys Office at the murders, called those years a very tough time
for our community and added, many heavy hearts still exist in our
community.
Howard added the case will be the first one handled by his offices
Conviction Integrity Unit, which will allow family members and others to
make an application to review a case to see if a conviction is justified.
For Catherine Leach, whose son Curtis Walker was among those murdered, she
said she still doesn't have closure after almost 46 years.
It seems like the Atlanta Missing and Murdered Children have been
forgotten in this city. We want some closure," she told reporters. "I want
to know who killed Curtis. His case is still sitting on the shelf, getting
dusty and rusty.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
--
Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party ran out of gas and got run over by a Trump
truck.
Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for cleaning up the disaster
of the Obama presidency.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp.
ObamaCare is a total 100% failure and no lie that can be put forth by its
supporters can dispute that.
Obama jobs, the result of ObamaCare. 12-15 working hours a week at minimum
wage, no benefits and the primary revenue stream for ObamaCare. It can't
be funded with money people don't have, yet liberals lie about how great
it is.
Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he was in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood queer
liberal democrat donors.
--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ***@netfront.net ---