who is wayne williams attorney

by Robyn Mayert 5 min read

Wayne Williams — NYUP. Wayne K. Williams is a Member of the Board of Directors of NYUP. Wayne serves as Deputy Chief of Staff at the Kings County (Brooklyn) District Attorney's Office where he is responsible for assisting with the overall operations of the third largest prosecutor's office in the country.

Where is Wayne Williams today?

Williams was denied parole in 2019. His next date of parole consideration will be in November 2027. He is currently housed at Telfair State Prison.Jun 21, 2021

How old is Wayne Williams now?

63 years (May 27, 1958)Wayne Williams / Age

Who were Wayne Williams parents?

Homer WilliamsFaye WilliamsWayne Williams/Parents

What was Wayne Williams childhood like?

Early life Williams was born and raised in Atlanta's Dixie Hills neighborhood, from which many of the Atlanta Child Murderer's victims would later disappear. An aspiring DJ, he ran an amateur radio station from his parents' house, and was well-known in the area for scouting local musicians, particularly teenagers.

Where is Ed Kemper?

Where is Ed Kemper now? After he was found guilty of first degree murder on 8 November 1973 and was sent to a maximum security prison for life. Kemper is still behind bars and is serving his eight life sentences in the California Medical Facility in Vacaville.Oct 24, 2019

Who was Jimmy Ray Payne?

21 year old Jimmy Ray(e) Payne (5'1", 137lbs, DOB 01 Sept 1959) had been released from Alto Correctional Institute Dec 1980, where he'd been doing time for a burglary charge. He was friends with Pat Man and hung out at Eagan Homes apartments. Payne was under the care of a Dr.

Who was Wayne Williams father?

Homer WilliamsWayne Williams / FatherHomer C. Williams, father of Wayne B. Williams, took the witness stand today in defense of his only child, who is on trial on charges of murdering two young black Atlantans.Feb 19, 1982

Where did Wayne Williams grow up?

Wayne Bertram Williams was born and raised in the Dixie Hills neighborhood of southwest Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Homer and Faye Williams. Both of his parents were teachers. Williams graduated from Douglass High School and developed a keen interest in radio and journalism.

Did Wayne Williams go to college?

Georgia State UniversityFrederick Douglass High SchoolWayne Williams/Education

Where was Wayne Williams born and raised?

Atlanta, GAWayne Williams / Place of birth

What was unusual about the way fiber evidence was used in this case?

1. What made the fibers found on the victims unusual? The yellow-green nylon fibers were unusual; coarse and tri-lobed in cross section the fibers appeared to be those used in rugs or carpets. However, police were unable to determine the manufacturer of the fibers.

Who is Wayne Williams?

Wayne Williams Photo: Getty Images. To some, Wayne Williams is a con victed murderer linked to the brutal killings of dozens of young, black children in the late 1970s and early 1980s. But to others, Williams is an innocent man railroaded by a system eager to find a suspect and put the slayings behind the bustling city of Atlanta.

Where did Wayne Williams grow up?

Growing Up An Only Child. Wayne Williams is the only child of Homer and Faye Williams and grew up in a middle-class neighborhood of Atlanta, where he maintained a close relationship with his parents. “I knew them as a true Atlanta family,” Lee Whatley, a defense attorney who worked on Wayne’s appeals said in the docuseries.

How long did it take to convict Wayne of Carter and Payne?

It took a jury just 11 hours to convict Wayne of Carter and Payne's killings. No charges were ever filed in any of the children’s murders and officials closed 23 cases in the days that followed without any further investigation.

How many children were killed in the Williams murders?

There were 158 murders of children and 33 are still unsolved.”. Williams — who has always maintained his innocence — was convicted in 1982 for killing two adult men, Nathaniel Carter and Jimmy Ray Payne, but investigators at the time suspected he was also responsible for dozens more deaths — including the slayings of young children.

What did Homer buy his son?

As a young boy, Homer bought his son an electric train set and bicycle. He also bought him a combination rifle and shot gun that the pair used on hunting trips, but Wayne “didn’t kill very much, so he gave that up,” his father testified.

How many African American children were murdered in Atlanta?

According to the FBI, an estimated 29 African American children, teens and young adults were kidnapped and murdered in the Atlanta area between 1979 and 1981. Authorities plan to re-examine that list to determine whether other potential victims were initially overlooked, Mayor Bottoms said.

Who killed two men in Atlanta?

Wayne Williams, an aspiring music producer, was convicted of killing two men in Atlanta — but he's also considered the prime suspect in a string of murders of children in the late 1970s and early 1980s that terrified the community. By Jill Sederstrom.

Where was Wayne Williams born?

Early life and education. Wayne Williams was born on May 27, 1958, and raised in the Dixie Hills neighborhood of southwest Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Homer and Faye Williams. Both of his parents were teachers.

When was the Wayne Williams case closed?

The case was once again closed on July 21, 2006. Former FBI profiler John E. Douglas wrote in his book Mindhunter that, in his opinion, "forensic and behavioral evidence points conclusively to Wayne Williams as the killer of eleven young men in Atlanta.".

How old was Nathaniel Cater when he disappeared?

However, both the phone number he gave police and Cheryl Johnson turned out to be fictitious. Two days later, on May 24, the nude body of 27-year-old Nathaniel Cater, who had been missing for four days and was last seen with Williams, was discovered in the river.

When did the Williams murders happen?

Atlanta murders. Williams first became a suspect in the Atlanta murders on the morning of May 22, 1981, when a police surveillance team, watching the James Jackson Parkway bridge spanning the Chattahoochee River (a site where several victims' bodies had been discovered), heard a "big loud splash", suggesting that something had been thrown from ...

When was DNA testing done on Patrick Baltazar?

DNA testing was performed in 2010 on scalp hairs found on the body of 11-year-old victim Patrick Baltazar. While the results were not firmly conclusive, the DNA sequence found appears in only 29 of 1,148 African-American hair samples in the FBI's database, including that of Williams.

Where was the Williams trial?

His trial began on January 6, 1982, in Fulton County. During the two-month trial, prosecutors matched to a number of victims nineteen sources of fibers from Williams's home and car: his bedspread, bathroom, gloves, clothes, carpets, dog, and an unusual trilobal carpet fiber.

Who played the main antagonist in Mindhunter?

Williams appears as the main antagonist in several media portrayals of the case. He was first depicted in the 1985 television miniseries The Atlanta Child Murders and was played by Calvin Levels. In 2000, Showtime released a drama film titled Who Killed Atlanta's Children? with Clé Bennett playing Williams. In 2019, Williams was featured in season 2 of the Netflix series Mindhunter alongside others such as Charles Manson and David Berkowitz; Williams 's character was portrayed by Christopher Livingston.

When was Wayne Williams convicted?

On February 27, 1982 , Williams was convicted of double murder. That same day, Judge Clarence Cooper imposed two consecutive life terms. In the years following his conviction, Wayne Williams has maintained his innocence. His conviction ended any further investigation into the murders of the 22 other victims.

When did the Williams trial start?

Williams' trial began December 28, 1981 . Following an adjournment for the holidays, testimony got under way on January 6, 1982. District Attorney Lewis Slaton likened the Atlanta killings to a "jigsaw puzzle with a whole lot of little pieces fitting in." Chief defense counsel Alvin Binder preferred to highlight Williams' solid family background, ...

How many black people were killed in the Chattahoochee River?

Over the next two years upwards of 20 young black males were found murdered. In the early hours of May 21, 1981, police staking out the Chattahoochee River, one of the killer's favorite dumping grounds for his victims, spotted a station wagon on a bridge. The driver, Wayne Williams, was questioned but allowed to leave.

Who used microscopic analysis to find the dog hairs on Jimmy Ray Payne's body?

Prosecutors Use Microscopic Analysis. But it was the forensic evidence that really undid Williams. Microanalyst Larry Peterson had compared fibers and dog hairs found on the bodies of Cater and second victim Jimmy Ray Payne with examples taken from Williams' house, car, and German shepherd.

Who was the driver of the Atlanta shooting?

The driver, Wayne Williams, was questioned but allowed to leave. Two days later, the body of Nathaniel ("Nate") Cater was dragged from the river. Although forensic evidence connected Williams, a 23-year-old black homosexual music promoter, with many of the Atlanta killings, he was charged on only two counts. Williams' trial began December 28, 1981.

Does Encyclopedia have page numbers?

Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Refer to each style’s convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates.

Who is Wayne Williams?

Wayne Williams. Wayne Williams is suspected of murdering more than 20 Black youths from 1979 to 1981 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Where was Wayne Williams born?

Wayne Bertram Williams was born on May 27, 1958, in Atlanta, Georgia. Little has been reported about Williams’ early life, but his public journey to infamy began on July 28, 1979, when a woman in Atlanta came across two corpses hidden under bushes at the side of the road. Both were male, Black and children: Edward Smith, 14, ...

How did Alfred Evans die?

The other victim, 13-year-old Alfred Evans, was reported missing three days before. Evans was murdered by asphyxiation. This discovery would mark the start of a string of killings lasting 22 months in Atlanta that became known as the Atlanta Child Murders, and it would continue in late September, when Milton Harvey, age 14, was also found dead.

How long was Charles Manson in prison?

He died in 2017 after spending more than four decades in prison.

When was Jimmy Ray Payne arrested?

On June 21, 1981 , Williams was arrested, and on February 27, 1982, he was found guilty of the murders of Cater and another man, Jimmy Ray Payne, 21. The conviction was based on physical evidence—matching fibers found on the victims and in Williams’s personal possessions—and eyewitness accounts, and he was sentenced to two consecutive life terms.

Who was the Atlanta child murderer?

Wayne Williams was born in Atlanta in 1958. In the midst of a rash of child murders in the late 1970s and early 1980s, fibers found on one victim matched those found in Williams's car and home, and he was arrested. Although labeled the Atlanta Child Murders, the case resulted in Williams only being found guilty of the murder of two adults.

Where were the bodies of the victims of the riots dumped?

To this point, the bodies of the victims were found in wooded areas, but in April 1981, the killer changed his MO: The bodies were now being dumped in the Chattahoochee River. This allowed investigators to narrow their search, and they soon staked out all 14 bridges that span the river in the Atlanta area.

image

Overview

Reopening investigations

Williams has maintained his innocence from the beginning and claimed that Atlanta officials covered up evidence of KKK involvement in the killings to avoid a race war in the city. His lawyers have said the conviction was a "profound miscarriage of justice" that has kept an innocent man incarcerated for the majority of his adult life and allowed the real killers to go free. In contrast, Joseph Drolet, who prosecuted Williams at trial, has stood by Williams's convictions. He has em…

Early life and education

Wayne Williams, son of Homer and Faye Williams, was born on May 27, 1958, and raised in the Dixie Hills neighborhood of southwest Atlanta, Georgia. Both of his parents were teachers. Williams graduated from Douglass High School and developed a keen interest in radio and journalism. He constructed his own carrier current radio station and began frequenting stations WIGO and WAOK, where he befriended a number of the announcing crew and began dabbling in becoming a pop …

Atlanta murders

Williams first became a suspect in the Atlanta murders on the morning of May 22, 1981, when a police surveillance team, watching the James Jackson Parkway bridge spanning the Chattahoochee River(a site where several victims' bodies had been discovered), heard a "big loud splash", suggesting that something had been thrown from the bridge into the river below. The first automobile to exit the bridge after the splash, at roughly 2:50 a.m., belonged to Williams. When s…

Arrest and trial

Williams was arrested on June 21, 1981, for the murders of Cater and Payne. His trial began on January 6, 1982, in Fulton County. During the two-month trial, prosecutors matched to a number of victims 19 sources of fibers from Williams's home and car: his bedspread, bathroom, gloves, clothes, carpets, dog, and an unusual trilobal carpet fiber. Other evidence included witness testimony that placed Williams with several victims while they were alive, and inconsistencies in …

Aftermath

Williams was never tried for any of the Atlanta Child Murders. However, police attributed 22 other deaths, including those of 18 minors, to Williams.
Williams is serving his sentence at Telfair State Prison. On November 20, 2019, Williams was again denied parole. He will next be eligible for parole in November 2027.

Media

Williams appears as the main antagonist in several media portrayals of the case. He was first depicted in the 1985 television miniseries The Atlanta Child Murders and was played by Calvin Levels. In 2000, Showtime released a drama film titled Who Killed Atlanta's Children? with Clé Bennett playing Williams. In 2019, Williams was featured in season 2 of the Netflix series Mindhunter alongside others such as Charles Manson and David Berkowitz; Williams's character …

See also

• Grim Sleeper, a serial killer whose victims were exclusively African-American people
• Samuel Little, a serial killer whose victims were mostly African-American women
General:
• List of serial killers in the United States