WEBVTT - The List [bonus] 0:00:01.000 --> 0:00:04.440 By the winter of ninety nine, Atlanta's nightly news was 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:07.840 still with reports of missing and murdered children, but attest 0:00:07.880 --> 0:00:10.520 to some of the names, you hear a disclaimer. Top 0:00:10.560 --> 0:00:13.920 police brass resisted adding his name to the task Force list. 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:16.520 You don't see her on the official list of murdered 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:18.959 and missing children, not put on the Special task Force 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:21.560 list until his body was found. His death never made 0:00:21.600 --> 0:00:24.239 the list either had not been on the missing person's list. 0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:28.200 His disappearance also didn't make the list. What exactly was 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:30.760 the list, where did it come from, and what did 0:00:30.760 --> 0:00:33.879 it mean? Were the individuals on the list connected? Law 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:39.360 enforcements seemed to waver on this as late as yesterday. 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:42.120 Detectives in the Homicide Division at ap D we're saying 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:45.159 there was no link between the cases. In fact, they 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:48.120 wouldn't even acknowledge that there have been more kidnappings and 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:51.839 murders involving children than in the past. Homicide detectives are 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:54.360 now trying to see whether there may be a connection 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:57.120 in the cases. Because he is black and fifteen, he 0:00:57.200 --> 0:00:59.640 fits the pattern of the missing and murdered children in 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:02.760 atlant but that may be the extent of the similarity. 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:05.960 We are unable to think categorically that there's a relationship 0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:08.200 between one case and the other. The only thing all 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:10.640 twenty nine cases have in common is that they are 0:01:10.680 --> 0:01:12.720 on the task force list. I think the right thing 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:14.640 to do is to be able to keep up with 0:01:14.760 --> 0:01:17.920 those cases of bear similarities. Authorities told me they do 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:21.240 not think at this point that one person is responsible 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:25.000 for all the disappearances and deaths. There are similarities. Obviously, 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:27.360 we have to look at the possibility that there may 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:31.080 be some connection between all the cases. We're not discounting that. 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:34.960 Investigators think several cases are totally unrelated. Authorities say there 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:37.839 are similarities with other incidents. At leice do not think 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:40.920 that this murder is related. There are some similarities in 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:43.680 some of the days. Police do think there's a possibility 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:46.240 that this murder is connected to another case that they 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:50.080 have under investigation, and associated press story quotes an unidentified 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:53.320 source close to the investigation as saying putting all twenty 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:56.240 eight murder victims names on one task course list is 0:01:56.280 --> 0:01:59.000 one of the biggest mistakes the police department has ever made. 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:01.840 Sources putting of the names on one list has created 0:02:01.880 --> 0:02:04.880 the oppression the cases are all related, says many of 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:07.760 the cases are unrelated, but the public thinks they're all 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:10.160 the work of one killer because they're on the same list. 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:12.720 Source says the list is a big mistake and a 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:21.639 scorecard for police failure to solve the cases. If the 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:24.079 pattern cannot be agreed upon, that why we're some of 0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:30.080 Atlanta's missing and murdered children excluded. This is the actual list, 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:32.400 really we used, and you know that the origin of 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:36.640 the list touch it, but you can't have it. I 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:41.240 think the list is either in need of correction or incomplete. 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:44.880 I'm not sure could have been more. I think it 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:47.960 could have been more. I think maybe instead of a list, 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:53.560 maybe we need two lists, one involving young, small children, 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:58.560 the other involving adolescents. You would be hard pressed even 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:01.920 today been with people who have spent a lot of 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:06.880 time pouring over these records to find some consistency and 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:11.760 what folks think represents a pattern of behavior for whoever 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:16.040 or whoever's committed these crimes. I don't think there should 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:18.519 have ever been a list. I think each case should 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:23.200 be investigated individually. This is Kristen Tobin, creator of the 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:26.239 at Kid website, the database that focuses on the victims 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:30.720 in this case, it doesn't make sense to have little 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:33.320 kids seven and eight year olds who were found in 0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:36.720 the woods with different causes of death to be put 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:39.080 in a less way adults they found in the river. 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:44.360 I don't see how those things are related. I think 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:50.240 that may have just been officials panicking. It makes the 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:52.880 city look bad. And if they put it all together 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:55.760 and they can just focus their investigation in one place, 0:03:56.080 --> 0:03:58.880 if they make it related so they're all related, then 0:03:58.920 --> 0:04:04.560 it feels like you can get rid of the monster. Um, 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:09.800 it feels like there can be something done. It was political, 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:13.720 it was crazy. It became a thing in and of itself, 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:15.560 and they didn't know what to do with it. They 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:17.719 didn't know how to get out of it. I don't 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:20.080 think they ever Nobody ever dreamed what this was going 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:25.000 to be. This is Dale Russell. I'm the senior investigative 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:28.960 reporter for Fox five News here in Atlanta. Like many 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:32.120 we've talked to, Dale has followed this case since the beginning. 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:37.960 In the beginning, it was really a list of unsolved murders, 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:42.120 but then the name missing and murdered got attached to it. 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:45.880 They had no evidence linking anything back then, and then 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:48.760 it got into this strange thing. Oh, why is my 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:50.760 child on the list? Why is my child not on 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:54.360 the list? Is the murder of my child not important 0:04:55.000 --> 0:04:58.480 if it's not on the list. To their defense, they 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:00.800 didn't really know what they had yet at the time 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:03.800 the list was first put together. I don't think anybody 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:10.640 knew what this was. Some private investigators now working on 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:13.320 the cases don't agree with Lee Brown. They say the 0:05:13.400 --> 0:05:15.800 list of murdered and missing children in Atlanta, which now 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:19.320 number seventeen, is too limited. The private detectives want to 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:22.200 know why. They say, any child who has been murdered 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:25.279 should not be excluded from the intensive search now going on. 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:28.839 In their words, whether it's one killer or fifteen, they 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:34.960 should all be caught quickly. Discrepancies in the task Force 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:38.479 list of names formed the basis of the comprehensive book. 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:42.200 The list, the lists, and the viewpoint of its authors 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:47.359 have always been controversial. Ship debt Leader had a treasure 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:50.760 crotal information. If you really want to contrast in what 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:54.000 I just told you, read Chet debt Linger's book. Debt Linger, 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:56.280 he interviewed me in the office. I'm on page one 0:05:56.360 --> 0:05:59.320 twenty three that book. I love chat. He would probably 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:01.599 be shocked to hear me say that. I have so 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:05.320 much respect for him. He feels that it wasn't handled correctly. 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:09.360 That's something I agree with. It's funny I've I've talked 0:06:09.360 --> 0:06:12.200 to a lot of people who well kind of whisper 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:14.120 that they read it, but don't want to say out 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:16.440 loud that they read or whisper that it's guided them. 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:19.520 We didn't always see eye to eye. He's been critical 0:06:19.520 --> 0:06:21.920 of some of the reporting I've done. He had a 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:26.560 voluminous knowledge of this case because he was in early. 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:30.120 I thought he was smart about how he got in 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:32.640 and how he saw it. I think he's dead on 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:36.320 and some of his depictions of the problems with the 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:39.520 police department. Chet always liked to portray it as he 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:42.360 knew better than anybody else. But you know, I thought 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:46.120 his criticisms about the politics of the list and some 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:48.520 of the other things early on in the police department 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:50.919 were fair and valid. I think it's full of what 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:54.159 Chet wanted people to believe. I think Chet just didn't 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:56.880 It wasn't privileged to all the facts. I started reading 0:06:56.880 --> 0:06:59.760 and put it down and went in there. I don't like. 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:01.600 I didn't want to didn't want to read the more. 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:04.400 His theory was way out in left field, and he 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:07.760 eventually convinced enough people that he was right and they 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:10.760 used him as their their expert. And he talks about 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:13.560 the politics within the force. I guess I would call 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:17.320 him the ultimate skeptic. The police were going to psychics, 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:22.280 and Chet's like, this is ridiculous. He seems like the 0:07:22.360 --> 0:07:25.320 voice of reason to me in a lot of it. 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:28.680 I basically agree with everything he says in the book. 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:32.520 It feels in a certain way like a case file. 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:35.560 It's almost as if people want to use it as 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:37.720 a treasure map, you know what I mean, Like, well, 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:41.680 I don't necessarily adhere to everything that it's promoting, but 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:44.240 I'm going to use this as a launch pad as 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:51.640 a springboard to do further research. Unfortunately, Chet det Linger 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:54.880 and co author Jeff Prue had both passed away. In 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:57.960 lieu of an interview opportunity, We've asked our producer Matt 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:04.880 to quote directly from the book. As Atlanta's mystery deepened, 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:07.120 I learned that it was far worse than our public 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:10.600 officials were telling us. More victims were not part of 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:13.560 the official investigation and body count than were on it. 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:17.840 The list, which consisted only of cases assigned to a 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:21.040 special police task force that had been formed amid community 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:24.600 pressure in July of nineteen eighty, ended with twenty eight 0:08:24.640 --> 0:08:28.800 slain victims, plus ten year old Darren Glass missing since 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:32.760 September of nineteen eighty. But that excludes at least sixty 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:36.360 three more unsolved Atlanta area killings of blacks who fit 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:40.280 the arbitrary age, sex, race, and cause of death parameters 0:08:40.400 --> 0:08:44.240 that the authorities used for the list. It's important to 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:46.640 keep in mind that all those cases which were not 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:49.319 put on the list, an alarming number to be sure, 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:52.520 don't come close to adding up to all unsolved murders 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:55.840 in the Atlanta area. They merely fit the fluid parameters 0:08:55.880 --> 0:09:00.240 of the list, parameters that the authorities themselves established and 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:03.760 changed with no logic. In the early morning hours of June, 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:06.800 the body of ten year old Aaron White was found 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:11.439 underneath this railroad dressle on Moreland Avenue. While Aaron Wish 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:13.840 may seem to fit the pattern, his name was not 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:18.040 initially added to the list. The Cab County investigated, concluding 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:22.040 that the boy's death was accidental. The medical examiner wrote 0:09:22.480 --> 0:09:26.000 the boy died from asphyxiation caused by trauma to the 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:29.640 neck area, either from falling or in striking the ground. 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:32.640 Even before the deaths of the young black children were 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:35.680 being connected, the family of Aaron Wish did not believe 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:38.520 that his death was an accident. They say that he 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:40.680 was always afraid of heights, and as you can see 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:43.319 by this rail, a young boy would have to physically 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:46.440 climb on top of the rail to accidentally fall off. 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:49.480 Did you tell place that you didn't think was an accident? 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:51.679 When they came and they took me at the had 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:55.280 told him about it, they saying from what they fo 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:58.480 they noted, he just got open and just slipped off. 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:01.680 What would you like to he's done? Now? Well, what 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:03.120 I would like to see done? It didn't put in 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:04.840 and find out who do you do it? Because I 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:07.760 know my baby didn't do that on his own. The 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:11.280 official ruling of Aaron's death didn't sit well with chet Detlinger, 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:15.720 and he pursued to investigate. I returned to the intersection 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:19.000 of Moreland and Constitution to find the damned railroad trestle. 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:22.600 Lo and behold. We soon found that there was no 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:26.680 railroad trestle for Aaron Wish to fall off. Instead, he 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:28.680 had been found at the base of a highway bridge 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:32.200 which passes over two railroad tracks. The bridge is six 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:35.199 lanes wide. It blends so well into the surrounding terrain 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:37.080 that were it not for the guard rails, which are 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:39.880 almost as high as Aaron Weish was tall, most people 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:41.959 wouldn't notice that they were on a bridge when passing 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:45.360 over it. The bridge has sidewalks and it's perfectly safe 0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:48.640 to walk across. There is no way Aaron Wish could 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:52.439 have fallen off that bridge. Jumped or been thrown maybe, 0:10:52.679 --> 0:10:56.160 but fall off no way. Private investigators agree that the 0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:59.200 case should be reopened. They say the body fits into 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:03.600 a geographic col pattern established with other deaths and disappearances. 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:06.760 His death was from asphyxiation, and he fit the description 0:11:06.840 --> 0:11:09.680 of other blackmails who were on the official list, but 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:12.760 Wish never made it. His death was ruled an accident. 0:11:13.240 --> 0:11:15.920 The trust aware this happened. Is the boundary line between 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:19.439 the cab County and Atlanta. If Aaron Witch's body had 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:22.800 been found on the other side, just fifty feet away, 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:26.440 Atlanta's task force may have been working on number twelve. 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:31.560 She asserts that this mischaracterization of the bridge on the 0:11:31.559 --> 0:11:36.440 official police report had a devastating impact by itself. The 0:11:36.520 --> 0:11:39.760 discrepancy in the Eronwisch case was tragic only for his family, 0:11:40.320 --> 0:11:44.000 but in the overall panoply of Atlanta's murders, it was catastrophic. 0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:46.840 It meant that the police were dealing with an accident, 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:51.520 not a murder. Consequently, there was nothing to investigate. It 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:54.199 means that Aaron Wish was not plugged into the authorities 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:57.959 thinking about the case. What happened in the eron Wisch case, 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:02.280 a medical examiner received the word trestle to mean what 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:05.800 it's supposed to mean, a span without railings and with 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:09.440 open spaces between the railroad ties. As a result, he 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:13.480 ruled a murder an accident. A police officer who didn't 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:16.680 know what a railroad trestle was became the Achilles heel 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:22.040 of a murder investigation that cost more than nine million dollars. Now, 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:25.080 the capolice officials have changed their minds, They think it 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:34.400 was murder and they have reopened the case. The origins 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:37.600 of the list go back to nine to a grassroots 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:43.280 coalition of concerned Atlanta mothers. Mothers in US history have 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:47.600 been at the forefront of a number of movements trained 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:54.040 around protecting children communities the nation. There's a long heritage 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:59.480 of this right of people taking the symbol of motherhood 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:04.719 and attaching that to the kind of activism that everybody 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:08.120 can relate to right, and everybody can get behind, and 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:12.000 everybody can understand in terms of people who will self 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:16.760 asleep put themselves forward to take any risk to protect 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:21.800 their communities. When the mothers organize themselves to come together 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:24.720 and say we've got to do something to stop this, 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:27.520 the first thing that they're actually asking for is just 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:32.880 take it seriously and investigate it. We want our children found, 0:13:33.600 --> 0:13:37.600 We want justice for our children that have already been lost. Well, 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:40.319 police check out the similarities in all of these crimes. 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:42.720 The mothers of three of the dead children are warning 0:13:42.760 --> 0:13:45.679 other parents to be careful. They have set up the 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:49.160 Committee to Stop Children's Murders. The group is planning a 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:51.360 seminar at the end of the month to teach parents 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:54.480 how to keep their children from becoming the next statistic. 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:57.000 I am so sorry that what happened to my child, 0:13:57.080 --> 0:14:00.880 what happened to these other ladies, children happen up. What 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:03.400 I want you to do is to hang in there 0:14:03.679 --> 0:14:06.400 and try your best to see to it that it 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:12.559 doesn't happen to yours. Thank you so much. And almost 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:19.520 immediately these mothers come under scrutiny. Are they unwed mothers? 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:22.760 Why is it just mothers and not mothers and fathers. 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:25.960 What does this mean about the dysfunction of their families? 0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:29.440 That mothers are stepping forward and all of this kind 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:33.640 of sense that you know, urban women, particularly black urban women, 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:37.200 are matriarchal and represent kind of something that is wrong 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:41.840 and dysfunctional and creeping into the mainstream in terms of 0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:46.040 American familihood and American womanhood. Like all of that got 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:50.040 played up. The Muslims will be on the streets keeping 0:14:50.120 --> 0:14:52.160 an eye on the children, but they know they can't 0:14:52.200 --> 0:14:54.920 do it alone. Tonight, they urged the men in one 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:58.680 housing project at McDaniel and Fulton to start caring about 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:01.600 kids their own and other our people's instead of doing 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:05.800 their own thing. What doesn't say for man to get 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:08.840 out our rusty dusties and come together and begin to 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:12.480 five the problems that affect That's all Some men listened, 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:16.080 most were too busy doing other things. Those who listened 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:18.960 said they hoped more people would get involved, but they're 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:20.960 not confident. I don't know if there's going to do 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:24.560 any good. As a man, I will tell you honestly, 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:28.360 there's a lot of mothers out here. They don't what's 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:30.560 there to be a lot of tune around, and the 0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:32.760 people where the mama don't be knowing where they are. 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:35.680 Sometimes I see him take them back up on the 0:15:35.880 --> 0:15:37.680 only here. You know what the stake to take them 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:40.200 to their mama, try to find out who. The America 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:44.160 has demonstrated over and over again that the caring for 0:15:44.200 --> 0:15:47.480 our children that we profess may not be there. I 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:51.120 contend that it is, but that we're feeling helpless to 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:55.000 make change. We're not helpless, and we will make change, 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:59.080 and a miracle will become a child conscious society. Rather 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:05.160 than being universally kind of seen as these people who 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:09.720 have suffered the greatest loss having to to bury a 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:12.840 child or going to bed each night not knowing where 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:18.040 your child is, they are almost immediately kind of seized 0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:22.000 upon by many folks as a symbol of what's wrong 0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:27.680 with the American familihood and therefore potentially responsible for whatever 0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:31.520 has happened to their children. Last night, members of the 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:34.480 Committee to Stop Children's Murders held a closed door meeting 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:38.280 to decide on a formal reaction to FBI allegations of 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:42.880 some parents responsibility in the murders. Today, victim Curtis Walker's 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:46.160 mother told me such talk was nothing new. She says 0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:49.600 police repeatedly accused her of killing her son. Of what 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:51.720 they was trying to say that I had something to 0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:54.720 do with. I told there was a damn lapin key 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:57.640 of my child, and they kept saying they're gonna try 0:16:57.680 --> 0:16:59.760 to make me say that my child was a three kid, 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:02.720 a hustler, runaway. I told him, get the hell out 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:05.040 of my house and don't come back. Camille Bell, making 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:07.840 the formal statement for We're Committee to Stop Children's Murders, 0:17:08.000 --> 0:17:10.680 said the group has sent a letter to FBI Director 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:15.080 Webster saying his remarks were untrue and demanding an apology. 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:18.000 If no arrests are made in the next twenty four hours, 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:20.280 usually after they get a chance to work through that 0:17:21.320 --> 0:17:24.200 and find out whether the parents are in fact people 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:26.320 that could have done it or didn't do it, then 0:17:26.400 --> 0:17:31.119 either an arrest is made immediately or they go on 0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:35.320 to find other suspects. Basically, the general feeling is if 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:37.119 they think I kill my child, tell him to come 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:40.359 get me. Mrs Bell says she has no idea why 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:43.199 the FBI made the statements in the first place, or 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:46.119 why Commissioner Lee Brown did not deny they were true. 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:51.639 I think that it makes them, um, in some ways, 0:17:51.760 --> 0:17:55.919 that much more brave to have come out in the 0:17:55.920 --> 0:18:00.320 way that they did and insisted, even in the face 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:04.680 of this, over and over and over again, that their 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:07.240 cases were going to get the attention that they deserved, 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:10.640 and that they were going to in some ways kind 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:13.480 of stand at the gates right of their communities and 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:16.520 make sure that people knew that this happened to them, 0:18:16.760 --> 0:18:19.399 and people knew that there was still a danger, and 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:23.280 that people did whatever they could to protect themselves even 0:18:23.400 --> 0:18:25.960 if they weren't getting all of the official help that 0:18:26.000 --> 0:18:28.560 they needed. I think in many ways they could speak 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:33.479 to what was at stake better than anyone, because the 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:36.600 fact that mothers came out in the ways that they 0:18:36.640 --> 0:18:44.320 did constantly forced the media and public officials to have 0:18:44.520 --> 0:18:49.560 to acknowledge that these victims are children, and so over 0:18:49.600 --> 0:18:53.000 and over and over again saying, um, you know, my 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:56.760 child was innocent, and being very specific about that, and 0:18:56.840 --> 0:19:01.159 pulling out photographs of their children and person analizing these stories, 0:19:01.480 --> 0:19:04.640 talking about the things that their children liked to do, 0:19:05.119 --> 0:19:07.919 talking about the ways that their children, even when they 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:11.359 were out and about, you know, weren't quote street hustlers, 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:14.400 but we're kids who were trying to make extra money, 0:19:14.480 --> 0:19:17.360 bagging groceries so that they could help their families, or 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:21.280 trying to run errands for neighbors, UM, to be helpful 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:26.640 in the community. Well loved UM and and even if 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:30.720 not well loved UM children in their schools where they 0:19:30.720 --> 0:19:33.320 were just in the third grade, just in the fourth grade, 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:36.440 just in the fifth grade. It's some mothers who keep 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:40.919 that front and center and try really hard not to 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:45.359 allow folks to depersonalize this. And so I think that 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:49.280 the mothers have to be credited with keeping the memories 0:19:49.320 --> 0:19:52.960 of their children alive in that way. Interestingly and ironically, 0:19:53.800 --> 0:19:59.159 I think that as a consequence, possibly um of the 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:01.840 ways in which they revealified, in the ways in which 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:06.840 the case was so sensationalized, a lot of the mothers 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:10.000 also chose at a certain point to retreat and and 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:14.199 really became fairly adamant that they didn't want to be harassed, 0:20:14.880 --> 0:20:19.000 they didn't want to be bothered, not bothered about their memories, 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:23.800 but that it was continually traumatic. I think it's really 0:20:23.840 --> 0:20:26.840 important to recognize that because a lot of folks were 0:20:26.840 --> 0:20:31.919 earning their livings on the backs of these children and 0:20:32.000 --> 0:20:41.240 on their families trauma. In the last year, eight Atlanta 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:44.359 youngsters have been reported missing. The parents of some of 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:47.800 these children have complained that police aren't doing enough, partly 0:20:47.840 --> 0:20:50.399 because of these complaints, but mostly just to try and 0:20:50.400 --> 0:20:52.879 get to the bottom of all this, the special Task 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:56.919 Force was created one sergeant and four investigators. As far 0:20:56.960 --> 0:20:59.639 as our investigations are concerned, it will allow us the 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:03.560 time to go back and type any loose ends that 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:06.080 needs to be tied up in the course of all 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:09.360 of the investigations. But most of all, it would benefit 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:12.960 us by allowing him full time without interruption. So now 0:21:13.000 --> 0:21:16.240 we have two groups of investigators looking into these cases, 0:21:16.440 --> 0:21:19.959 one from inside Atlanta Police headquarters and another made up 0:21:20.000 --> 0:21:23.360 of former ap D officers who are now private detectives. 0:21:23.560 --> 0:21:26.320 Commissioner Brown says he welcomes any help he can get 0:21:26.359 --> 0:21:29.440 in this matter as long as the private detectives remember 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:33.960 where their authority stops. The ten murders and kidnappings involving 0:21:33.960 --> 0:21:37.040 missing children have become priority number one at a p D. 0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:40.280 The task force assigned to investigate the cases has been 0:21:40.280 --> 0:21:43.440 doubled in size to ten. The FBI has been asked 0:21:43.480 --> 0:21:46.160 to assign two of its agents to assist in the investigation. 0:21:46.440 --> 0:21:49.200 Governor Busby will be asked to loan Atlanta Police four 0:21:49.240 --> 0:21:52.280 agents from the GBI. The state will also be asked 0:21:52.280 --> 0:21:54.800 to provide money to pay for extra police over time 0:21:54.800 --> 0:21:58.080 and other expenses. The Atlanta Office of the FBI has 0:21:58.160 --> 0:22:01.280 pitched into help in a peripheral way. They've already made 0:22:01.320 --> 0:22:05.560 available their laboratory resources, their behavioral sciences unit at Chronical 0:22:05.640 --> 0:22:08.680 Virginia Technical Assistance. They've flown in people to be of 0:22:08.720 --> 0:22:11.920 assistance to us, So we appreciative that who would also 0:22:12.359 --> 0:22:15.040 Our request right now is that they assign agents to 0:22:15.119 --> 0:22:18.000 be a part of the task force. And that's where 0:22:18.040 --> 0:22:20.840 the problem comes in. The FBI says, this is a 0:22:20.920 --> 0:22:24.600 local case, and no matter how horrible it is, Congress 0:22:24.640 --> 0:22:27.920 doesn't allow the FBI to get involved in local cases. 0:22:28.200 --> 0:22:30.840 What Atlanta really wanted was money to spend the way 0:22:30.840 --> 0:22:34.200 of thought necessary on the investigation, but Ronald Reagan didn't 0:22:34.240 --> 0:22:37.000 go quite that far. Instead of a blank check, he 0:22:37.080 --> 0:22:41.880 has offered other assistance technical help through three agencies, the FBI, 0:22:42.119 --> 0:22:46.800 the Justice Department, and the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration. Already, 0:22:46.800 --> 0:22:49.439 the FBI has more than twenty six agents working on 0:22:49.480 --> 0:22:52.280 the cases. Some days all are used, while on other 0:22:52.320 --> 0:22:56.000 days some agents said idle. Bureau officials in Washington now 0:22:56.040 --> 0:22:59.000 say it is very unlikely any more agents or equipment 0:22:59.000 --> 0:23:01.000 will be sent to a line of for the investigation. 0:23:01.160 --> 0:23:04.600 Commissioner Brown things that Lanta's little Black children's rights have 0:23:04.720 --> 0:23:07.639 been violated, and he thinks they deserve help from the 0:23:07.640 --> 0:23:15.720 federal government. When I look at the media coverage, particularly 0:23:15.720 --> 0:23:18.720 when I look at it as a researcher, I am 0:23:18.760 --> 0:23:24.479 immediately struck by the lack of empathy that seems to 0:23:24.520 --> 0:23:30.520 be extended towards these children's survivors, people who have lost 0:23:31.119 --> 0:23:35.560 a lot um more than we can't imagine. It seems 0:23:35.600 --> 0:23:39.399 like folks are looking for an opening for a story 0:23:39.520 --> 0:23:41.679