Setting Record Straight on Atlanta Murders
Like many other news organizations, The Times erroneously reports that Wayne Williams of Atlanta was found guilty of killing children. In “Newsmakers” (Oct. 11) you report that Williams was “found guilty of the 1979 to 1981 killings of 30 black children and young adults. . . .”
Actually, Williams was never tried for murdering children. He was tried and convicted in 1982 of first-degree murder in the deaths of Nathaniel Cater, 27, and Jimmy Ray Payne, 21.
After Williams’ trial, authorities closed the cases of 22 more victims (all but four of them children) and charged these slayings to him without benefit of a trial. Five more cases remain open.
JEFF PRUGH
Glendale
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