Atlanta Child Murder Case Summary

Words: 553
Pages: 3

The Atlanta Child Murder case officially began On July 28, 1979, when two corpses were discovered hidden under brushes on the side of a road in Atlanta. Both of the corpse discovered were black, male children. The bodies were later identified as Edward Smith and Alfred Evans. Edward smith was 14 years old, had been missing for a week, and was shot to death with a .22- caliber gun. The second victim was 13-year Alfred Evans who died from asphyxiation. Evans was reported missing three days before his body had been found.
On September 14, 1979 Milton Harvey who was 14 years old became the nest victim of the Atlanta Child Murderer. Harvey was headed to the bank to pay a credit card bill for his mother when disappeared. His body was recovered.
…show more content…
Kirk once said “Wherever he steps, whatever he touches, whatever he leaves even unconsciously, will serve as silent witness against him. Not only his fingerprints or his footprints, but his hair, the fibers from his clothes, the glass he breaks, the tool marks he leaves, the paint he scratches, the blood or semen he deposits or collects—all of these and more bear mute witness against him. This is evidence that does not forget” (Kirk, 1953). In the criminal case against Wayne Williams fiber evidence was the key component in his conviction. The Georgia State Crime Laboratory located a number of yellowish green nylon fibers and some violet acetate fibers on the bodies and clothing of the murder victims whose bodies had been recovered between July 1979, and May 1981. The nylon Fiber found on most of the victim was extremely similar to each other. The fiber was mainly what linked the victims to the same killer (Deadman, 1984). However, law enforcement were unable to link the fibers to a suspect, until Nathaniel Cater. In February of 1981, an Atlanta newspaper published an article listing the many different type’s fibers that had been found on two murder victims. Subsequent after the article was published, bodies found in the Atlanta metropolitan area were either nude or clothed only in undershorts. It seemed as though the killer was purposely disposing of the victim in river and in an undressed state in order to eliminate fibers from being found on the bodies (Deadman,