Wayne Williams (original) (raw)

Wayne Williams (born May 27, 1958) was identified as the key suspect in the Atlanta Child Murders that occurred between 1979 and 1981, and was found guilty of the murder of two adult men January, 1982. After his conviction, the Atlanta police considered most of the child murders to be solved.

Williams's conviction was controversial, because the evidence used in court against him was entirely circumstantial. Much of the case revolved around a highly technical analysis of various fibers found on the bodies of the victims in comparison to fibers found in Williams's house. Williams had been arrested after having been seen on a bridge at the time of a suspicious splash in the Chattahoochee River, where a victim was later found.