Wayne Williams
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Wayne Williams (born May 27, 1958) was identified as the key suspect in the Atlanta Child Murders that occurred between 1979 and 1981, and in January, 1982, was found guilty of the murder of two adult men. After his conviction, the Atlanta police declared 22 of the 29 child murders solved.
Williams' conviction was controversial and has been disputed, in part because the evidence used in court against him was entirely circumstantial. Much of the controversy centered around a highly technical analysis of various fibers found on the bodies of the victims in comparison to fibers found in Williams' 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.
On May 6, 2005, DeKalb County Police Chief Louis Graham ordered the re-opening of the murder cases of four boys killed in DeKalb county between February and May 1981 that were attributed to Williams. Chief Graham believes that Williams may be innocent of all of the murders. However, the authorities in neighboring Fulton County, Georgia, where the majority of the murders occurred, have not moved to re-open the cases under their jurisdiction.