Atlanta’s dark hours re-visited

So I finally had a chance to see the CNN Special about the Atlanta Missing and Murdered Children Cases which to this day is still the darkest chapter in Atlanta’s 20th century.  And once again, Wayne Williams, the man who was convicted of two of the murders, was trotted out and proclaimed his innocence, tried to convince everyone a new trial should be started, and was once again the smooth talking man who you possibly couldn’t think was the guilty mass murderer, blah, blah, blah… We have seen this act for nearly 30 years.  Oh, I hear the scuttlebutt that the Klan was actually behind the murders, witnesses lied or were coerced, the defense was not prepared, etc.

No matter what people think about whether or not Mr. Williams was the guilty party, one undeniable fact remains:  since Wayne was arrested, no male African-American child/young adult ever disappeared to be found strangled in the manner these 30 young men were during the crisis.  It’s something that not even Wayne’s staunchest supporters can deny. 

Does it mean the Police got the right man with Wayne?  Probably.  Did the three failed lie detector tests Mr. Williams take hurt his case?  Certainly.  Did Wayne’s cross-examination hurt the defense?  Yes.  Even with that, are there still doubts?  Of course.  Only a select group of people knew what really happened:  the victims and the killer or killers.  Unfortunately, the victims can’t speak.

Growing up in the Atlanta area during this time was nerve-racking.  Sure, I was a Caucasian child living in the suburbs, and since the victims were African-American in the city, you would think there would be nothing to worry about.  Wrong.  Just because other kids were dying, you had to wonder:  What if the killer started targeting white boys?  What if girls were targeted next?  What if other adults began to disappear?  What if the killer moved out to the suburbs?  You never knew.  Just like in a bizarre echo over 2 decades later you didn’t know if the D.C. Sniper was hanging out in your area waiting to take you out, the same paranoia filled Atlanta.  Heck, they found Patrick Baltazar’s body in the parking lot of the Office Complex that my dad was working at the time.  What if the killer began targeting the Buford Hwy./North Druid Hills area?

Still, some 30 years after those season of fear, the echoes haunt those of us who had to live with the reality of a child killer on the loose in our town.  Now that I’m a father, how will those echoes affect my desire to protect my son?