The Atlanta Child Murders. The aforementioned phrase was the most terrifying of my youth. I had never been to Atlanta. I didn’t even know anyone in Atlanta. But when the made for television miniseries chronicling the phenomenon of young black children snatched from the streets of Atlanta– and in one case, her home – and victimized in the worst ways imaginable, it scared me to death.
It didn’t matter that by the time the drama starring Morgan Freeman and James Earl Jones based on true events made it to the small screen the case had been “closed” for nearly five years. It also didn’t matter that I lived halfway across the country in St. Louis.
Wayne Williams being convicted of two of the murders did little in the way of bringing closure or a sense of resolve. Debates regarding his guilt or innocence continues as he approaches forty years into serving two consecutive life sentences.
In the upcoming docuseries produced by Will Packer that will debut this Saturday (March 23) on Investigation Discovery adds another layer to the narrative in that he lends voice to the victims’ families – including the young people who lived in constant fear that they would be next at the height of the killings.
“Having lived in Atlanta for over 20 years, the story of this senseless tragedy is personally important to me, and the echoes of what happened 40 years ago still resonate in the city,” says Will Packer, Executive Producer of The Atlanta Child Murders. “I am proud to give a voice to the victims’ families, many of whom still seek closure to this day, and analyze how this story is more relevant than ever in today’s environment.”
From 1979 – 1981 poor African American children in Atlanta were under siege. Ironically, the crimes occurred just as the city was on the verge of a renaissance that is still underway in the now thriving southern urban metropolis.
Parents, stepparents, cousins, siblings – among them young people who lived to talk about the Atlanta Child Murders – give a bone-chilling real time account of the murders and disappearances. Their perspective lends humanity to the crop of photos of nearly three dozen that look like a page torn from a yearbook instead of a group of victims linked in an unspeakable shared fate.
One 12-year-old victim, Angel, loved classical music. Another, “Patman,” wanted to be the next Michael Jackson and sang at talent shows across the city hoping to get discovered. Two didn’t even live in Atlanta. They were there visiting family. One of the visiting children was snatched while waiting for police at a phone booth after he called in about a suspicious induvial following him and his friend.
The scenarios were worse than imagined – a nine-year-old boy was snatched while playing hide and seek in broad daylight. And it became clear early on that the lives of these young people didn’t matter.
The community cried out – and the city didn’t listen – at least not at first. But parents became activists in the quest to get the region to serve the community by solving these crimes and grand scale investigation and support from around the country followed.
“This case remains one of our countries’ most perplexing mysteries, and at ID we are proud to shine a light on every angle of this largely forgotten story,” says Henry Schleiff, Group President of Investigation Discovery, Travel Channel, American Heroes Channel, and Destination America, “Will Packer’s vision to revisit this national tragedy through the never-before heard perspective of the victims’ families brings home the true devastation of these cases.”
The documentary series differs from other programming about the case in that it puts African-Americans directly involved in the case as leading voices in the tragedy that still haunts those who were impacted – or even followed the case from the very beginning.
Black journalists and law enforcement officials issue hard truths of how the case was handled – and mishandled – as more than two dozen poor black youth turned up dead and missing over a two year period. “Nothing could stop the drum beat of bodies,” said Vern Smith, who was Atlanta Bureau Chief for Newsday at the time of the murders. “The notion was that these lives weren’t as valuable – that they were throwaway kids.”
What viewers won’t get from this documentary is answers – but the series can’t give what the case doesn’t have. However, the show is a graceful and bipartisan and gives insight from every angle of the case – even if in doing so it only raises more questions.
The Atlanta Child Murders will premiere on Saturday, March 23 at 8 p.m. CST on Investigation Discovery. Check local listings for channels and for more information, visit www.investigationdiscovery.com
