History of Wayne William's Serial Killings - Essay Example

The family lived on Dixie Hill, the neighborhood closely connected to most of the murder victims. Williams graduated from Frederick Douglas High School and went on to attend Georgia State University. He dropped out after his freshman year and joined a popular radio station owned by an influential black leader, Benjamin Hooks. He went on to start his own radio station and promoted local musical talent. With electronics as his hobby, Williams marketed video footage and photographs of local accidents to television channels.

The only child of indulgent parents, Williams received continuous financial support from them for his various entrepreneurial ventures. As he ineptly scouted for local musicians, particularly black teenagers, Williams frittered away their savings, driving them to bankruptcy. Williams was known to be a pathological liar, lived with his parents and was a loner. Williams was surrounded by rumors of homosexuality. He had the gift of impersonation and was arrested in 1976 for “impersonating a police officer and unauthorized use of a vehicle” (Bell, Murderpedia).

The victims of the serial killer were all blacks. Beginning with Edward Smith (14), Alfred Evans (13) Milton Harvey (14), and Yusef Bell (9) in July 1979, the list of child victims went on with Angel Lenair (12), Jeffrey Mathis (10), Eric Middlebrooks (14), Chris Richardson (12), Latonya Wilson (7), Aaron Wyche (10), Anthony Carter (9), Earl Terell (11), Clifford Jones (13), Darren Glass (10), Charles Stephens (12), Aaron Jackson (9) and Patrick Rogers (16) in 1980. The spree continued into 1981 with Lubie Geter (14), Terry Pue (15), Patrick Baltazar (11), Curtis Walker (15), Joseph Bell (15) and ended with Timothy Hill (13) in March.

The list of child victims was now extended by the addition of adults: Eddie Duncan (22) and the ex-convict Michael McIntosh (23) in March 1981, Larry Rogers (20), Jimmy Payne (21) and ex-convict John Porter (28) in April 1981, William Barrett (17), a juvenile delinquent, in May 1981 and finally, ex-convict Nathaniel Cater (27) in the same month. (Bell, Murderpedia).The modus operandi differed but certain similarities emerged. A large number (fourteen) of the victims – Evans, Bell, Lenair, Wyche, Jones, Stephens, Jackson, Geter, Pue, Baltazar, Walker, Bell and Hill died by asphyxia and strangulation.

Smith was shot with a gun; Lenair was tied to a tree, with her hands bound behind her back, and there were indications of sexual abuse; Middlebrooks was bludgeoned to death; Carter was stabbed. Among the adults, Duncan, Rogers, McIntosh and Cater were asphyxiated, Porter was stabbed and Barrett was stabbed and strangulated. Most of the adults suffered from mental and behavioral problems. Williams was arrested for the murder of the adult's Jimmy Payne and Nathaniel Cater. The prosecution later introduced ten cases of children (Evans, Middlebrooks, Stephens, Barrett, Pue, Porter, Geter, Bell, Baltazar and Rogers) as showing a pattern with the following characteristics: black males, missing clothing, no car, poor families, no evidence of forced abduction, broken homes, no apparent motives for the disappearance, defense claims no contact, asphyxia by strangulation, no valuables missing, corpses found near expressway ramp, transported before or after death and the presence of similar fibers.

(Bell, Murderpedia).