WEBVTT - The Night Shift [bonus] 0:00:01.040 --> 0:00:04.040 Welcome to the new summer series of Atlanta Monster, where 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:06.960 we will uncover new stories around the Atlanta child murders. 0:00:07.480 --> 0:00:10.520 I'm your host, Jason Hope, and in our first episode, 0:00:10.520 --> 0:00:12.680 we talked to the men and women that reported on 0:00:12.720 --> 0:00:15.960 the case that gripped Atlanta and the nation nearly forty 0:00:16.040 --> 0:00:19.520 years ago. The time has healed old wounds. One thing 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:23.000 is clear. The nightmare of that traumatic time sticks with 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:28.560 many even to this day. You don't want to believe 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:32.400 that you've given anybody an opportunity to do anything to 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:36.400 harm anybody, because it means that you could have been 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:41.760 a part of fueling what may have happened. In other words, 0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:45.120 if he wasn't an overnight photographer, maybe he wouldn't have 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:49.080 had the opportunity to do this. To think that you 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:52.000 have come face to face with someone who could potentially 0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:57.960 kill that many people and be that close to where 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:01.880 you shake their hand, You've hugged them, you have laughed 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:06.040 with them, that's the hard part. You don't want to 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:12.880 think that he was so wrong in judging somebody. I 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:17.680 don't want to believe that he did that because somehow 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:21.000 I feel that I may have had some role in 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:25.800 helping in Atlanta. Another body was discovered today there at 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:29.039 Police Task Force headquarters. There are twenty seven faces on 0:01:29.080 --> 0:01:32.399 the wall, murdered, one missing. We do not know the 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:34.600 person or persons that are responsible. Therefore, we do not 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:38.000 have the moody from Tenderfoot TV and how still works 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:41.400 in Atlanta. Like eleven other recent victims in Atlanta, rogers 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:44.840 apparently was ASPHIXI victor. Atlanta was unlikely to catch the 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:49.840 killer unless he keeps on killing. This is Atlanta Monster. 0:02:04.840 --> 0:02:08.840 I'm Joscelyn Dorsey. I'm Director of Editorials and Public Affairs 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:14.320 at WSBTV, which is now Cox Media Group Atlanta, and 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:17.680 I've been there for forty five years. I started out 0:02:17.720 --> 0:02:21.680 as a street reporter in nineteen seventy three and worked 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:25.040 in the newsroom from nineteen seventy three to nineteen eighty three, 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:28.680 and after that became the director. Jocelyn Dorsey was the 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:32.440 first African American television news anchor in Atlanta, arriving from 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:35.760 Ohio in nineteen seventy three. During her career, she has 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:39.120 reported on numerous happenings in and around Atlanta, including the 0:02:39.200 --> 0:02:42.399 Atlanta child murders, with reporting on the psychics and community 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:45.200 efforts to help local kids who are highly distressed at 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:49.120 the time. Through the central character art the Art Institute 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:51.600 in Atlanta, Police hope to teach children about safety in 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:54.639 a way that can be fun. The four primary messages 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:58.400 are don't get into a car with strangers, don't take candy, money, 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:01.440 or gifts from strangers, play in groups, and if you 0:03:01.520 --> 0:03:05.080 need help, go to a police officer, firefighter, or bus driver. 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:09.680 They're your friends. Art Institute Community Relations director Liz get 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:13.280 says besides the basic themes, teachers can use the book 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:16.400 as a teaching tool. The coloring book, produced by students 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:19.320 of the Art Institute on a volunteer basis, is being 0:03:19.360 --> 0:03:22.360 donated to the Atlanta Police Bureau later this week. The 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:26.480 printing costs for the fifty copies were donated by Diggler Brothers, 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:29.400 a local firm, and officials say you'll be seeing a 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:33.520 lot more of Artie in public service announcements soon. Joscelyn 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:38.880 Dorsey Action News, but that's not the only part of 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:41.440 her involvement with this story. Jocelyn was one of the 0:03:41.480 --> 0:03:43.760 first to discover Wayne in his teen years, where he 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:45.880 was already hard at work at the radio station he 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:50.120 had built in his house. I first met Wayne Williams 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:53.800 as a street reporter. We got the story of this 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:57.840 young whiz kid who had started a radio station in 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:01.839 his basement, so I covered the store. He was fascinated 0:04:01.880 --> 0:04:06.920 with media, and normally I mentor young people who are 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:10.640 interested in the business, and he was very interested and 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:17.440 wanted to come and see the station. From there, we 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:22.240 maintained a relationship because he asked questions and wanted to 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:26.000 shadow me and all of that. Paul paula Celli worked 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:29.520 in the newsroom at WSB. Also he saw firsthand and 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:31.840 for the first time in his life, a new world 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:36.880 when he wasn't entirely prepared for. I went to WSB 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:42.560 is the executive producer and assistant news director. Atlanta was 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:46.000 a very aggressive news community who was a hot growing 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:49.400 city at the time. We were calling these kids street kids. 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:55.039 The Omni is a complex of amusement arcades, theaters, restaurants, 0:04:55.080 --> 0:04:59.400 shops in the heart of Atlanta. It's a meeting place 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:02.560 for the city. Is Footloose Young Blacks, a place which 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:05.160 many of the missing and murdered children used to visit. 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:09.080 Most of them were what the locals called street wise, 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:12.760 coming often from broken homes. They hustled for money, did 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:16.480 odd jobs, sometimes had trouble with the law. They were tough. 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:23.039 I mean, I remembered my father said, what in the 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:25.480 world is going on down there? And I said to him, Dad, 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:28.000 I got to tell you something. I would have known 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:31.600 more about what was on the surface of the moon 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:36.120 then I knew about how people lived in public housing 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:39.680 in Atlanta, Georgia. I was totally unprepared for the world 0:05:40.000 --> 0:05:42.640 that I walked into. I didn't know that there were 0:05:42.760 --> 0:05:46.720 children who had no one with primary responsibility for those children. 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:49.000 I didn't know that there were children who would be 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:51.320 out at two and three o'clock in the morning being 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:54.640 a mule for a drug dealer or selling homosexual favors. 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:58.200 It was a world that was totally separate and apart 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:01.120 from the caudal world that I grew up there. I 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:03.840 had no concept that people lived like that. I had 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:07.039 no concept that there was that level of child abuse 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:10.120 in society. And Atlanta was having an epidemic of child 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:13.400 abuse at the time, and it was particularly impactful and 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:15.839 harmful to the minority kids at the time, and that 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:18.680 was the big subject that never got addressed out of this. 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:21.120 You know, they wanted to get this problem out of 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:23.240 the way as fast as they could. And I'm not 0:06:23.279 --> 0:06:26.600 sure that Atlanta ever looked into that talk about a 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:29.440 child being vulnerable. A nine year old on the street 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:31.760 at three o'clock in the morning, and then you've got 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:37.200 people prowling those streets looking for god knows what. Back 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:40.480 in those days, we had what we called stringers. We 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:44.240 were shooting sixteen millimeter film and we would give a 0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:49.640 camera to a freelancer, especially on the overnight crew, and 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:53.320 he decided he wanted to be a photographer. He kept 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:56.760 shadowing them, would come in all the time volunteer and 0:06:56.760 --> 0:06:59.160 I told him, I said, you know, we can't pay 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:01.720 people to volunteer here, but if you want to try 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:03.800 out to be a stringer, you could be a stringer. 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:07.320 And that's what he did. He was freelancing for us 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:14.480 as a photographer. Wayne's world, his world was the world 0:07:14.680 --> 0:07:17.480 of the stringer. His world was the world of going 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:20.640 around looking for trouble with night and taking pictures of it. 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:25.680 He was a component of that very world. He was 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:29.520 just a young kid, and I mean he was right 0:07:29.560 --> 0:07:31.920 out of high school. I think when he first started 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:36.600 working with us, I didn't know much about his home life. 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:41.240 I knew his parents, and he was a child that 0:07:41.880 --> 0:07:45.600 was born later in their lives because they had had 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:49.480 problems having a child. And I remember his mom telling 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:53.840 me that he was a very special child because you know, 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:58.040 she thought she wouldn't be able to have children. His 0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:01.680 father was in the business. I think he was a freelancer. 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:05.080 He may have actually worked for a newspaper, but um 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:08.440 he was a photographer, so I imagine his interest came 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:12.800 from his dad. Jocelyn got to know Wayne and Wayne's family. 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:19.000 But what was Wayne really like. He wasn't charming, and 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:22.240 a lot of people didn't like him. He was kind 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:24.320 of what people would call a nerd. You know, he's 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:28.680 very nerdy, very bright. So I never thought that there 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:32.040 was anything strange because I knew a lot of nerdy 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:35.319 kids growing up, and you know, I just thought that 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:39.040 he was different. He did have a way about him 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:42.000 that rubbed some people the wrong way. We heard this 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:46.319 over and over again. Wayne was nerdy, pudgy, highly intelligent. 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:50.240 He is a highly intelligent young man, A good student. 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:52.560 When he was in school, he was a very intelligent 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:56.200 young man. I said, you're very intelligent. I said, what's 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:57.679 your a cue and he said, I don't believe in 0:08:57.720 --> 0:08:59.720 accus and I said, well, you must have done well, 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:02.480 and they just seem to be educated in articulate or whatever. 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:05.240 As a student, he was extremely bright. He was a 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:10.640 pretty intelligent guy too. He had a very high i Q. Brilliant, asshole, 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:15.720 unassuming and cocky at the same time. He comes across 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:19.400 as a nerd. He's a nerd. He's a little nerdy. 0:09:19.800 --> 0:09:23.360 He is so mild mannered. He couldn't hurt fly, small, 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:27.280 not very threatening at all. Old kid with the classes, 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:30.480 one of those pudgy little guys whose mom made him 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:34.079 practice of piano. A little fat five seven, Wayne Williams, 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:37.720 very quick mind mentally, he could just run over the 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:41.280 average person. Wayne Williams quiet, didn't say much, and he 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:48.480 got his job done and left. In our newsroom, there 0:09:48.480 --> 0:09:50.920 are quite a few guys who would tease him because 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:52.880 of the way he looked. And this is back in 0:09:52.960 --> 0:09:57.000 the sevenings too, so the times were very different. But 0:09:57.160 --> 0:10:02.280 we don't know what impact had had on Wayne. You 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:05.880 really didn't have a lot of involvement with people because 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:07.800 you were so busy trying to get that story on 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:12.400 the air. I didn't know him enough to know what 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:15.600 was inside of his head. I knew it was different 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:25.640 from most people. I guess. I defended him because I 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:30.480 have known people like him, and um, I felt sorry 0:10:30.559 --> 0:10:33.839 for them because I know that they've been bullied or 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:37.640 people have said unkind things to them. So I have 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:40.640 a a soft spot in my heart for people like that, 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:43.720 and so I got to be a bit more defensive 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:48.040 because I felt as if they thought he was nerdy 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:52.040 or something was wrong with him. He kept to himself 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:55.440 a lot because of that. But he worked a different 0:10:55.440 --> 0:10:58.480 shift too. That's maybe the other reason he decided to 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:01.840 work overnight so he wouldn't have to come in contact 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:05.680 with people all the time. When the time came, Jocelyn 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:08.120 Dorsey ended up having to fire Wane because he was 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:10.480 taking footage and selling it to the other stations. On 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:13.720 the side, you'll recall that Monica Coppan also said that 0:11:13.800 --> 0:11:19.200 strange things were happening. This man was a freelancer for WSBTV, 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:24.200 and that's not something you hide. So the part of 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:28.679 the story was, yes, someone has been arrested in connection 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:33.120 with this case, but this person also has worked here 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:37.520 as a freelance photographer, so that put us in a 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:41.640 different vein from the other stations. Then there was still 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:46.080 the question is he guilty or is he not. I 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:49.080 can remember Don McClellan, who was the reporter then and 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:52.200 it since has retired. He had a huge file on 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:57.600 the Missigan murdered children. Don did that story that night, 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:03.280 and I can remember him being as a good reporter 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:05.679 should be. I'm just going to give you the facts, 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:13.280 but this still is alleged. Wayne's departure from WSB did 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:18.440 not end well. I distanced myself from him after he 0:12:18.559 --> 0:12:22.640 left the station. Um, we did not leave on great terms. 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:27.120 So UM, I think he knew that he had done 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:32.760 something wrong and regretted it, but it was it was 0:12:32.920 --> 0:12:40.920 not something that could be repaired easily. And then he 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:43.800 left and decided that he was going to go into 0:12:43.880 --> 0:12:47.640 the music business. And he would call me and ask 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:50.920 me if I knew any young people or if I 0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:53.240 could help him in this music business, and I told 0:12:53.280 --> 0:12:56.080 him I really didn't know anything about it, and so 0:12:56.640 --> 0:12:59.280 I really felt that this was not my place to 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:02.439 give him any a dies and suggested, you know, maybe 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:05.719 he talked to somebody else. And after that our relationship 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:24.679 kind of drifted. The city struggled to find the killer, 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:28.920 and the body count only grew larger. How would they 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:34.880 know when they found him. Dr Alvin Passant was an 0:13:34.920 --> 0:13:39.840 African American psychiatrist with the Harvard and he became a 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:42.800 regular that we touched with because the story had all 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:46.679 of these racial overtones to it that again puzzled us, 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:49.560 why is this happening? Why are all these kids minority kids? 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:54.920 It became this gigantic crossword puzzle that just engrossed all 0:13:54.960 --> 0:14:02.240 of it. I've been doing interviews since nineteen Of all 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:04.560 of them, that was the most chilling one I ever did. 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:08.480 We were sitting in the snack room of WSP and 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:11.359 I was doing an interview with him because his contention 0:14:11.559 --> 0:14:15.319 was is that this perpetrator had to be African American 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:18.200 because where these crimes were committed and at the times 0:14:18.200 --> 0:14:20.040 that they were committed, a white man would have stood 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:23.480 out like a sore phone. So the question then became, 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:27.400 why would an African American male be doing this to 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:32.400 young African American primarily males. And he had a theory 0:14:32.480 --> 0:14:35.520 on that that he wanted to cleanse the race. He 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:38.760 was embarrassed by these guys, and while we were doing 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:41.120 the interview, I looked up at the camera and I 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:44.560 planted to the lens and I said, whoever is doing 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:47.040 this might be on the other side of that lens 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:50.280 right there. What do we say to him? And he 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:53.080 looked at me and he said, well, not much we 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:55.120 could say to him directly that I'm going to tell 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:58.000 you this much. When they arrest him, you're going to 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:04.200 know him. Hmm, So you're gonna know him. Phrase literally 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:27.840 was found my spine with the children. I remember getting 0:15:27.840 --> 0:15:32.440 a call Mark Picard too thirty in the morning and 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:35.000 Mark called me and said, you will never believe what 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:39.480 has just happened. He said, they just arrested Wayne Williams 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:43.760 and I dropped the phone. I couldn't believe it. I 0:15:43.800 --> 0:15:47.240 was in such a state of shock. I just could 0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:52.640 not believe what I was hearing. And then, of course 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:57.000 all the events started to unfold, with him being arrested 0:15:57.440 --> 0:16:24.480 on the fiber evidence and then going to trial. The 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:27.080 home of the man taken into custody by the FBI 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:29.200 has from time to time this evening taken on the 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:34.080 aspect of a reporter's convention. His mother maintains her vigil inside, 0:16:34.200 --> 0:16:36.480 waiting by the phone, waiting to hear from her son 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:39.880 who was down at FBI headquarters and his father who 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:43.000 has now joined them, to say that the police actions 0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:45.200 of the past several hours were a shock to the 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:48.400 family that lives here and the neighborhood is an understatement. 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:51.440 The neighbors I spoke with say that the family more 0:16:51.520 --> 0:16:53.920 or less kept to themselves, and that the young man 0:16:53.960 --> 0:16:56.840 who was being questioned by the FBI was friendly, but 0:16:56.920 --> 0:16:59.040 only friendly enough to say hi. They really didn't know 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:03.560 much more about him. This episode began on Thursday May 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:05.840 when the man was stopped by the Task Force at 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:09.000 the Chattahoochee River. He was questioned about the possibility of 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:11.679 dropping something into the river, which he was denied, and 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:13.680 then he was let go for any lack of reason 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:17.359 to hold him. But surveillance on him continued until he 0:17:17.440 --> 0:17:21.720 was taken into custody by the FBI around three o'clock Wednesday. 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:24.800 The man was most recently involved in a company which 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:29.639 he formed the search out talented local youngsters singing, dancing, acting, 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:32.080 and so forth. It is reported that he told his 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:34.440 family that he was trying to set up an audition 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:36.960 on the night that he was questioned by the Task 0:17:36.960 --> 0:17:39.560 Force at the Chattahoochee River, and that he had a 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:43.320 friend in his car, supposedly also for an audition when 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:46.879 he was taken into custody on Wednesday. The FBI apparently 0:17:46.880 --> 0:17:48.520 had a pretty good idea of what they were looking 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:51.080 for when they executed the search warrant here at the home. 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:55.600 Among the things that it removed, it took pieces of blankets, robes, 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:59.639 human hair, and dog hair. We understand that this material 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:02.480 has been taken to the State crime Lab where it 0:18:02.600 --> 0:18:05.800 is either being processed now or will be processed first 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:09.119 thing in the morning. That should determine whether the people 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:13.400 here can finally rest in peace or whether they're nightmare 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:16.080 and a possible solution to some of the murders is 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:24.680 at hand. Mark Picard, Action News. Mark Picard was also 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:27.920 a reporter at w SPTV on the front lines during 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:30.800 the case. In fact, he was there the night Wayne 0:18:30.880 --> 0:18:34.600 was taken downtown. Much to the surprise of the rest 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:37.800 of the media. Picard was inside the house with Wayne 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:40.320 and his parents that night. When he returned from his 0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:45.840 interview with authorities, I got a phone call from a 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:51.240 police source who said that the task force were searching 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:55.679 Wayne's house and uh I should get over there with 0:18:55.720 --> 0:18:57.480 the crew. And I got there and for a while 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:00.159 we were the only crew. They're reporting on what was 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:04.920 going on. I guess Wayne either saw us outside or 0:19:05.040 --> 0:19:10.480 was watching television, and he did ask me to come inside. 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:17.840 He put in a cassette in an old cassette recorder 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:22.440 and recorded our conversation. The rationale behind it, I think 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:27.280 was to offer a defense for himself. At the end 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:31.439 of the conversation, he gave me the cassette and said, 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:34.040 hold on to this. This is going to be valuable. 0:19:35.520 --> 0:19:38.679 It was a crazy night. I went back to the 0:19:38.720 --> 0:19:43.000 station and immediately turned over the cassette to my news 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:44.760 director and that was the last I ever saw it. 0:19:47.200 --> 0:19:50.480 Early that next morning, Piccard was inside the house again, 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:54.439 this time at the hastily called press conference thrown together 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:59.400 by a still unnamed suspect in Wayne Williams. You will 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:03.000 hear him, but you will see reporters and photographers. Did 0:20:03.040 --> 0:20:05.800 they ever call you a suspect? They ever used words 0:20:05.920 --> 0:20:09.199 they did as strong in a suspect. They openly see it. 0:20:09.640 --> 0:20:12.399 You Kio, Nathan U Cat and you know it, and 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:17.359 you land to listen. I just remember it was a circus. 0:20:18.080 --> 0:20:20.920 It was the center ring in the three wing circus. 0:20:23.400 --> 0:20:27.600 All of it was surreal. In my reporting career, I 0:20:27.640 --> 0:20:31.119 was relatively young and fresh, and this was crazy to me. 0:20:31.359 --> 0:20:34.439 I was trying to keep perspective and not let the 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:42.600 events overtake me. At that press conference, Wayne passed out 0:20:42.600 --> 0:20:45.440 as resume to the media. The FPI kept a copy 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:47.800 of this resume and we found it in their case file. 0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:51.679 Despite Wayne being a mere twenty two years old, the 0:20:51.760 --> 0:20:56.040 resume was already five pages long. FBI records indicated that 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:58.520 this resume was also one of the items found in 0:20:58.560 --> 0:21:01.119 the white station wagon when they searched the vehicle on 0:21:01.240 --> 0:21:06.480 June three. Though we worked as a stringer and freelancer 0:21:06.520 --> 0:21:10.679 at WSB for approximately three years, Wayne's resume indicated he 0:21:10.760 --> 0:21:14.440 was employed at WSB from January ninety nine to March 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:21.080 ninety nine. The murders began in June of nineteen seventy nine. 0:21:24.520 --> 0:21:28.080 The resume listed an extensive set of positions and accomplishments, 0:21:28.640 --> 0:21:34.280 and personal and professional references from NBC News, CNN, Arista Records, 0:21:34.320 --> 0:21:42.320 the City of Atlanta Public Safety, and Jocelyn Dorset. His 0:21:42.440 --> 0:21:46.359 resumes list of professional references includes many familiar names in 0:21:46.400 --> 0:21:49.400 the local media Most of those references say they knew 0:21:49.440 --> 0:21:53.040 Williams only briefly and not very well, but it is 0:21:53.080 --> 0:21:56.439 clear Wayne Williams is a bright and ambitious person. He 0:21:56.520 --> 0:21:59.119 started a radio station in his parents home when he 0:21:59.160 --> 0:22:02.320 was only twelve, and his teams you spent time hanging 0:22:02.320 --> 0:22:05.680 around many of the city's radio stations, doing odd jobs, 0:22:05.760 --> 0:22:08.920 mostly as an unpaid volunteer, and talking to the people 0:22:09.000 --> 0:22:15.520 he met about broadcasting. This was a surprise to Jocelyn. 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:18.680 Why would he list her as a professional reference when 0:22:18.720 --> 0:22:22.760 she had been the one to fire him from WSP. Shockingly, 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:25.960 the defense team from a Williams even reached out to Dorsey. 0:22:26.000 --> 0:22:31.320 Before the murder trial, his lawyers had called and asked 0:22:31.320 --> 0:22:34.280 if I would testify in his defense, and of course 0:22:34.320 --> 0:22:37.720 our lawyers said, no, we're not. We're not doing that, 0:22:38.440 --> 0:22:41.600 um because there have been some personnel issues that we 0:22:41.640 --> 0:22:44.360 had had with him, and you know, we told them 0:22:44.400 --> 0:22:47.360 that that would not be something that they would want 0:22:47.440 --> 0:22:52.119 us to have to reveal. You know, they wouldn't want 0:22:52.160 --> 0:22:55.159 me to because we had to dismiss him and it 0:22:55.280 --> 0:22:59.199 may not look good. I mean, that's certainly not a 0:22:59.240 --> 0:23:05.080 great character reference to say you got fired. I actually 0:23:05.119 --> 0:23:07.399 had to go down to the courtroom, and it was 0:23:07.600 --> 0:23:13.320 very awkward because our lawyers were arguing right up to 0:23:13.359 --> 0:23:16.720 the point where they thought I might have to testify, 0:23:16.880 --> 0:23:19.359 And so it was really awkward because I was down 0:23:19.680 --> 0:23:23.280 at the courtroom and some of my peers were wondering 0:23:23.320 --> 0:23:26.960 what I was doing there, and I couldn't say anything. 0:23:28.280 --> 0:23:31.320 So they took me off into a room and made 0:23:31.320 --> 0:23:36.120 me sit and just wait until they could figure out 0:23:36.680 --> 0:23:40.120 what the lawyers were going to do. His lawyer decided 0:23:40.119 --> 0:23:43.320 not to call me to the stand. It was pretty 0:23:43.359 --> 0:23:47.840 nerve wracking. You can imagine what I was going through 0:23:48.600 --> 0:23:52.040 during that time period of us wondering, you know, who 0:23:52.040 --> 0:23:55.760 could have done this. I was reporting a lot of 0:23:55.800 --> 0:23:59.520 the homicides at the time, and um, there were so 0:23:59.560 --> 0:24:02.640 many humors that were going on that that was probably 0:24:02.680 --> 0:24:18.639 the worst thing. Newsrooms were hearing rumors and stories constantly. 0:24:18.920 --> 0:24:22.280 Questions arose in many of the reporters heads, including Captain 0:24:22.359 --> 0:24:25.640 Dave Folk, who wondered what was happening at the Williams home. 0:24:26.600 --> 0:24:29.280 Captain Dave and others questioned the role of Homer Williams, 0:24:29.280 --> 0:24:32.400 Wayne's father, a topic that came up over and over 0:24:35.200 --> 0:24:38.040 at the time. Both the news media and officials investigating 0:24:38.040 --> 0:24:40.280 the case. We're also curious as to the role of 0:24:40.320 --> 0:24:44.200 Homer and his wife Faye. I'd like to know more 0:24:44.240 --> 0:24:47.600 from him. He seemed like his mother was a shot caller. 0:24:48.400 --> 0:24:50.720 She was the spokes version for it all when he 0:24:50.840 --> 0:24:55.520 was happening. See he has been tried and me as 0:24:55.520 --> 0:24:58.760 well say his vision had been convicted long before by 0:24:58.960 --> 0:25:02.399 the media. The Williams claimed that police, desperate for a 0:25:02.440 --> 0:25:06.240 break in the case, set up their son's arrest. They 0:25:06.440 --> 0:25:14.280 didn't have and don't have enough evidence. Not on to indicted, 0:25:14.440 --> 0:25:17.160 but to the rest. I'd just like to give them 0:25:17.240 --> 0:25:19.080 a warning that when don't they believe it or not, 0:25:19.160 --> 0:25:23.280 the killer is still at large. He's out there. I'm 0:25:23.359 --> 0:25:28.320 on the parting in Atlanta. Gotta gimen kevinn. Are you 0:25:28.359 --> 0:25:31.040 going to try the owner put at Lama, gott bring 0:25:31.200 --> 0:25:34.160 confid on my phone. My house is not the thing. 0:25:34.359 --> 0:25:40.919 I have faith. I have faith in there and and 0:25:41.080 --> 0:25:44.600 all the homofectual stuff. They're talking about paying from those 0:25:44.680 --> 0:25:49.040 street curing what they called cure stat Williams made the 0:25:49.080 --> 0:25:51.800 call to w g s T news radio last night 0:25:51.880 --> 0:25:55.199 during a live interview with Dr Joseph Lowry, President of 0:25:55.200 --> 0:26:01.280 the Southern Christian Leadership Conference where from But I did 0:26:01.480 --> 0:26:03.840 a lot of cover up and we are going to 0:26:03.920 --> 0:26:08.119 expose a lot of it tomorrow morning. But when tomorrow came, 0:26:08.480 --> 0:26:12.160 a very subdued Homer Williams and his attorney Lynn Whatley 0:26:12.520 --> 0:26:15.040 had little to say. It is our conclusion at this 0:26:15.160 --> 0:26:19.520 time that no statements will be made. I think that's 0:26:19.520 --> 0:26:24.760 a conspiracy. Um. I definitely feel that have the wrong 0:26:25.040 --> 0:26:29.560 place that pl that, and I say a game that's 0:26:29.600 --> 0:26:34.359 weighing his vvus as skate. I don't know about his ties. 0:26:34.440 --> 0:26:36.800 I don't know about who he knew or what he knew. 0:26:37.560 --> 0:26:40.720 He's very quiet, who would not talk. And if so 0:26:40.760 --> 0:26:43.840 many victims were linked to the fiber evidence originated from 0:26:43.840 --> 0:26:46.800 the carpet and blankets in the Williams house, how did 0:26:46.800 --> 0:26:50.480