Atlanta Child Murders: A chronology of the missing and murdered cases

Eddie Duncan, 21, was the first of the adult victims to go missing. He disappeared March 20, 1981, and was strangled to death.

Patrick Rogers, 16, went missing November 10, 1980. He was bludgeoned to death.

Milton Harvey, 14, vanished September 4, 1979. His cause of death is listed as being undetermined and his case status is unresolved.

Eric Middlebrooks, 14, disappeared May 18, 1980, and was found bludgeoned to death.

Aaron Wyche, 10, vanished June 23, 1980. His cause of death was asphyxiation.

Nathaniel Cater, 27, is the second man Williams was found guilty of murdering. He vanished May 22, 1981, and was later found asphyxiated. Cater’s is the last case listed as being associated with the Atlanta Child Murders.

Earl Terrell, 11, went missing July 6, 1980. He died from asphyxiation.

Yusef Bell, 9, was the first non-teenaged victim listed among the Atlanta child killer’s victims. He vanished October 21, 1979, and was found dead of strangulation.

Anthony Carter, 9, disappeared July 6, 1980. He was found dead of multiple stab wounds.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced March 21, 2019, that state and local authorities would take a fresh look at evidence in the cases of Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered Children. 

Larry Rogers, 20, is among the adults believed slain by the Atlanta child killer. He went missing March 22, 1981, and was later found strangled.

Joseph Bell, 15, vanished March 2, 1981, and was later found dead. Asphyxiation was listed as the cause.

Alfred Evans, 13, disappeared July 25, 1979. He was killed by strangulation.

John Porter, 28, went missing in April 1981 and was found dead of multiple stab wounds. His is one of two cases never officially listed as being part of the original crimes, although his death has been discussed in connection with the killings.

Patrick Baltazar, 11, disappeared February 6, 1981. He died of strangulation.

Terry Pue, 15, went missing January 22, 1981, and was later found dead of strangulation.

Jimmy Ray Payne, 21, is one of two men whom Wayne Williams was convicted of murdering. Payne vanished April 23, 1981, and was killed by asphyxiation.

Edward Smith, 14, vanished July 21, 1979, and was found dead of a gunshot wound to the upper back in a wooded area near the body of Alfred Evans.

Darron Glass, 10, vanished September 14, 1980, and has never been found. His case has been discussed in connection with the child murders, but it remains unresolved.

Christopher Richardson, 12, went missing June 9, 1980. He was later found strangled.

Timothy Hill, 13, vanished March 13, 1981, and was later found dead from asphyxiation.

Angel Lenair, 12, is one of only two girls listed among Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered Children. She disappeared March 4, 1980, and later was found dead of asphyxiation.

Curtis Walker, 15, disappeared February 19, 1981, and was later found dead of asphyxiation.

Michael McIntosh, 23, another of the adult victims, went missing March 25, 1981. He was later found dead, asphyxiated.

Clifford Jones, 13, went missing August 20, 1980. He was found dead of strangulation.

William Barrett, 17, is the last listed child or teen victim. He vanished May 11, 1981, and was killed by strangulation.

Lubie Geter, 14, vanished January 3, 1981. He was later found dead from asphyxiation.

The second girl listed among the Missing and Murdered Children, Latonya Wilson, was 7 when she disappeared on June 22, 1980. Her cause of death was listed as undetermined and her case is among those remaining unresolved. 

Charles Stephens, 12, vanished October 9, 1980. He was found suffocated.

Aaron Jackson, 9, went missing November 1, 1980. His cause of death is listed as asphyxiation.

Jeffery Mathis, 10, disappeared March 11, 1980. His cause of death was listed as “undetermined.”

By The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

ATLANTA — Aug. 7, 1979: The bodies of Edward Hope Smith, 14, and Alfred Evans, 13, are found in a vacant lot on Niskey Lake Road. Edward had been missing seven days; Alfred for three. They are the first of 29 young blacks killed over a period of 22 months.

April 15, 1980: Camille Bell and the parents of the other missing and slain children suspect a connection in the murders and form the Committee to Stop Children's Murders.

July 17, 1980: After nine children have died, five Atlanta police investigators are assigned to a special task force to investigate the Missing and Murdered cases; the local force eventually includes over 50.

Aug. 22, 1980: With the slaying of Clifford Jones, 13, the seventh victim, police say they suspect a pattern and will conduct their investigation under the assumption that the murders are connected.

Nov. 6, 1980: Attorney General William French Smith orders the FBI to join the case.

Nov. 11, 1980: Atlanta Public Safety Commissioner Lee Brown announces that five of the nation's top homicide detectives will be brought in as consultants.

Jan. 30, 1981: President Reagan dispatches two Justice Department officials to the city to offer assistance.

Feb. 17, 1981: Authorities announce that fibrous materials found with the body of Patrick Baltazar, the 16th victim, will allow them to link his death with those of five other child killings.

March 5, 1981: The Reagan administration gives the city $979,000 to fund youth involvement programs and a 24-hour hotline for tips and counseling. Federal aid to Atlanta for the case now is $1.2 million for the year, not including manpower from the FBI and other agencies.

March 10, 1981: Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. perform at the Atlanta Civic Center, raising $200,000 to help the city offset costs. City Hall is paying $150,000 a month in police overtime.

March 1981: From New York, the Guardian Angels send 12 members in red berets to patrol Atlanta. Various psychics, search dog teams and others converge on the city during the year, and local groups spend weekends searching for bodies.

April 13, 1981: FBI Director William Webster says the Atlanta police believe they have identified the killers of four of the now 23 slain children; however, evidence is not sufficient to file charges. Two more bodies are found later in the month.

April 22, 1981: Bob Campbell, a police stakeout recruit, hears a splash in the Chattahoochee River as Wayne Williams' station wagon passes overhead on the South Cobb Drive bridge; Williams is stopped and questioned. Two days later the body of Nathaniel Cater, 27, surfaces downstream, not far from where the body of Jimmy Ray Payne, 21, was found a month earlier.

June 7, 1981: The FBI says it has enough evidence to arrest Williams, but local authorities refuse to go beyond questioning Williams and searching his home.

June 21, 1981: After weeks of interrogation and surveillance, Williams is arrested and charged with the murder of Cater, the latest victim in the string of 28 killings.

July 17, 1981: Williams is indicted on two counts of murder by the Fulton County grand jury in the slayings of Cater and Payne.

Feb. 27, 1982: After 11 hours of jury deliberation, Williams is found guilty of murdering Nathaniel Cater and Jimmy Ray Payne and immediately sentenced to two consecutive life prison terms.

March 1, 1982: The Atlanta special police task force announces it will close 21 other cases (another would be closed later). All 22 were linked to Williams.

Feb. 10-12, 1985: "The Atlanta Child Murders, " a five-hour CBS miniseries starring Jason Robards and Rip Torn as defender and prosecutor, makes a case that Williams was railroaded. Calvin Levels portrays Williams. Fifty civic leaders preview the film; most criticize its loose treatment of facts. The film is viewed by nearly one-third of the national television audience.

Nov. 10, 1985: Attorneys for Williams file a request for a new trial, contending that their client was a "sacrifice" to racial harmony in Atlanta.

Jan. 8, 1988: State denies Williams' claims that prosecutors withheld evidence, ostensibly ending 12 years of appeals.

May 6, 2005: DeKalb County Police Chief Louis Graham reopens several of the Missing and Murdered cases.

March 21, 2019:  Atlanta police announced Thursday that they plan to retest evidence from the notorious Atlanta child murders.