The Atlanta child murders are getting a new look. A lab in Utah has agreed to examine prior evidence in the case to get more information on the victims of suspected killer Wayne Williams.
On Monday, Keisha Lance Bottoms, the Mayor of Atlanta, posted a tweet that announced that officers would be traveling to a private lab in Utah that works with old DNA evidence.
@Atlanta_Police Investigators are traveling to Salt Lake City to provide a private lab, that works with old DNA evidence, evidence from the Missing and Murdered children cases. It is my sincere hope that there will be concrete answers for the families.
— Keisha Lance Bottoms (@KeishaBottoms) October 18, 2021
The Atlanta child murders spanned two years in the late 70s and early 80s and resulted in the deaths of 20 child and teen victims. However, other estimates go as high as 29 victims.
Police suspected Williams of the murders, but they have never charged him with any crime connected to the deaths.
In 2019, Bottoms requested that the cases be reopened in light of the advances in technology that can more adequately process DNA evidence, reported Fox 5 Atlanta.
As a part of the new investigation, authorities are also looking into the prospect that there were more victims outside of the 1979-1981 timeframe of the known murders, with 1970-1985 as the new focus.
Williams is serving two life terms in prison for the murders of two adults whose bodies were found near his home.
Police had no concrete evidence of Williams’ guilt in the murders, but on the word of the same criminal profiler who assisted on the Son of Sam case, they felt that he was the likely culprit in the deaths.
Williams, however, has maintained his innocence in the cases to this day.
The name of the lab is being kept private.
