Abstract
Wayne Bertram Williams was an American national living in Atlanta, Georgia was who was suspected of killing two men as well as 28 to 30 other murders in the city. Many of the bodies he is suspected of killing were dumped by the roadside. The killer was meticulous and did not leave any evidence but for some fibers on the bodies of the victims. Wayne Bertram Williams was arrested on the James Jackson Parkway Bridge of the Chattahoochee River where the bodies were being dumped after the police heard a splash in the river. The prosecution of Wayne Bertram Williams was based on the forensic evidence from the analysis of the fibers in Wayne’s carpet that were found to be similar to those on Nathaniel Carter and the fibers from his car that were found to be similar to those on Jimmy Ray Payne. The calculation of the odds for the two events occurring was 1 in 29,827,776. Consequently, Wayne was convicted and given two life sentences.
Who
The Wayne Williams case is about one Wayne Bertram Williams. Wayne Bertram Williams was the suspect who was later convicted for the murder of two victims namely Jimmy Ray Payne and Nathaniel Carter. The conviction for the two murders was followed by two life sentences for Wayne Bertram Williams (The Forensics Library, n.d.).
Where
The murders for which Wayne Bertram Williams was first suspected and later convicted occurred in Atlanta, Georgia. There were specific places where the bodies of the murdered victims were found. For instance, the slain bodies of the two men for whose deaths Wayne Bertram Williams was convicted were found by the road within the city hidden in the undergrowth (The Forensics Library, n.d.).
When
The murders for which Wayne Bertram Williams was suspected and convicted took place between 1979 and 1981. The two young mean for whose deaths Wayne Bertram Williams was convicted were found on the 28th day of July of 1979. There were other deaths that were reported around the same time (Rocklin Unified School District, n.d.). For instance, over 20 males of the African American descent had been reported killed through asphyxiation or strangulation between 1979 when the bodies of the two males were discovered and 1980. The period up to the 22nd day of May 1981 was significant because it was on this day that Wayne Bertram Williams was arrested (Rocklin Unified School District, n.d.).
Why
The suspicion and arrest of Wayne Bertram Williams was because of his sole presence at a bridge where the police had set up a stakeout on the day one of the bodies was allegedly dumped in the river. The decision to stakeout bridges was based on the change in trends of the murders where the bodies were being dumped in the Chattahoochee River rather than by the roadside was previously the case. The change in tact coincided with stories ran on the local dailies regarding the use of fiber analysis to track the serial killer (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2014).
The police believed that the perpetrator was benefiting from the information gained through the media coverage and had resulted to dumping the bodies in the river so as to reduce the amount of evidence in the form of fiber left on the bodies of the victims. On one of the bridges which the police were staking out, they heard a splash as if something heavy had fallen into the water below and on moving in in the James Jackson Parkway Bridge, they found Wayne Bertram Williams in a station wagon. Wayne was allowed to leave after being interrogated. Nathaniel Carter’s body was pulled from Chattahoochee River, a small distance from the James Jackson Parkway Bridge (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2014).
How
The arrest and prosecution of Wayne Bertram Williams was based on the fiber strands that were found on Nathaniel Carter’s body. The Police, using a search warrant, found a carpet that had the yellow-green fibers that were similar to fibers that had been found on the bodies of the victims (Rocklin Unified School District, n.d.). Using the analysis of the optical analysis of the fibers on the carpet in his house (Rocklin Unified School District, n.d.). The police determined that the odds of finding such a carpet in Atlanta’s metropolis was 1 in 7792. The police had also found fibers in Payne’s shorts that were similar to the ones of the Wayne’s car (Rocklin Unified School District, n.d.). Using information from Chevrolet, the odds that the victim got the fibers from other cars were estimated at 1 in 3,828 (Rocklin Unified School District, n.d.). The odds that the two events occurred in that nature was estimated at 1 in 29,827,776, the evidenced based on which the jury convicted Wayne. He was handed a sentence of two life terms (Rocklin Unified School District, n.d.).
References
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2014). Serial Killers Part 5: Wayne Williams and the Atlanta Child Murders. Retrieved from https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/-serial-killers-part-5- wayne-williams-and-the-atlanta-child-murders
The Forensics Library. (n.d.). Wayne Bertram Williams. Retrieved from http://aboutforensics.co.uk/wayne-bertram-williams/
Rocklin Unified School District. (n.d.). Case Study: Wayne Williams. Retreived from http://www.rocklin.k12.ca.us/staff/lbrun/chemweb/Forensics/Unit_6_Trace_Evidence/W ayne%20Williams%20Case%20Study.pdf
