Name _______________________________
Pd _____ Date ________________
CSI: Atlanta Child Murders Video Guided Questions, Part II (16:00 to 42:00 min)
17. What did the police begin to stake out in the spring of 1981? Why?
Bridges, because the killer had been dumping the bodies in rivers and they hoped to catch him
in the act.
18. Describe the circumstances that caused police to pullover Wayne Williams?
A police officer staking out the Jackson Parkway Bridge over the Chattahoochee River heard a
splash. He saw a white station wagon turn around and come back over the bridge. He and an
FBI agent followed the station wagon and pulled it over. Wayne Williams was driving the
vehicle.
19. What did the police find in his station wagon?
A bag containing rope clothes and gloves.
20. Why did the police release Wayne Williams?
They believed they didn’t have enough evidence to hold him.
21. What did the neighbors see Wayne Williams doing the next evening?
Burning things in a barbeque pit and loading boxes in his car.
22. What caused police to consider Williams a suspect?
Two days later another victim washed up on the river bank a mile from the bridge police saw
Williams on.
23. What did police find on the victim?
Carpet fibers.
24. What type of evidence did police gather during a search of Williams’s house and car?
Items containing fibers: carpet, throw rug, bedspreads and car.
25. Explain how Wayne Williams did or did not fit the FBI profile?
He was young, black, intelligent and craved attention.
26. Why was Williams arrested shortly after graduating from high school? Did this fit the profile?
Impersonating a police officer. This fit with FBI profile.
27. How did Williams con young children?
He advertised himself as a music promoter and talent scout. He posted flyers in black
neighborhoods asking children to audition as musicians.
28. At the time of his arrest, how many abductions and murders was Williams suspected of
committing?
Twenty nine.
29. What were the two most important parts of the prosecution’s case against Williams?
Fiber evidence and eye witness testimony linking Williams to the victims.
30. Why did prosecutors argue in court that the murders were a pattern that indicated one serial
killer?
Crime lab experts testified that microscopic hair and fiber evidence from the victims were the
same as those found in Williams’s house and car.
31. Describe the “special” fibers found on 10 of the victims
Ten of the victims had synthetic fibers that were very rare. These fibers were traced back to
carpet made by a small carpet mill in South Carolina. Only 1500 square yards of the carpet was
sold in the Southeastern United States. This was the carpet that was in Williams’s house.
32. What did the defense argue about the prosecution’s case?
They argued that they were relying too much on hair and fiber evidence and other
circumstantial evidence. They claimed the prosecution had no direct evidence.
33. What did the prosecution claim as Williams’s motive?
They had testimony that Williams spoke derogatively about young black children. He thought
they were tarnishing the image of African-Americans.
34. What was one of the main reasons jurors thought Williams was guilty?
They thought he was guilty because he lost his temper on the witness stand and he was caught
in several lies.
35. Why do some people, including investigators and victim’s parents, think Wayne Williams didn’t
kill all these children?
He wasn’t linked to all the victims. One witness testified that the Ku Klux Klan was responsible
for at least one child’s murder.