In interviews from prison stretching from 1991 to 2018, Wayne Williams has maintained he did not kill anyone connected to the Atlanta child murders, disputing the fiber evidence at the heart of his 1982 conviction, denying the bridge episode police described the night before Nathaniel Cater’s body was recovered, and predicting his eventual release. He has given a handful of extended interviews over four decades, and in each one he has said some version of the same thing: he is innocent, and it is a matter of when, not if, he gets out.
Williams was convicted in February 1982 of murdering two adults, Jimmy Ray Payne and Nathaniel Cater, and sentenced to two consecutive life terms.1FBI. Serial Killers Part 5: Wayne Williams and the Atlanta Child Murders He was never charged with any of the child murders themselves, though the task force concluded after his conviction that the evidence linked him to 22 of the 29 killings under investigation. That gap between what he was tried for and what he is associated with in the public mind runs through everything he has said publicly since.
The 1991 Atlanta Journal-Constitution Prison Interviews
Williams sat for roughly five hours of in-person interviews at the Valdosta Correctional Institution over several weeks in 1991, published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on June 16 of that year. He challenged the prosecution’s core premise, arguing that examined case by case, “you don’t have one pattern, one killer.”2Atlanta Journal-Constitution. From 1991: Wayne Williams, Years After Missing and Murdered
He described prison life as “spartan” and acknowledged that he often breaks down and cries. He was dismissive of the press attention that had followed him for a decade: “I don’t need the media. I don’t need them. I don’t want them.” He bookended the conversation with the same conviction, saying more than once, “I’m going to get out eventually.”2Atlanta Journal-Constitution. From 1991: Wayne Williams, Years After Missing and Murdered
The 2010 CNN Interview With Soledad O’Brien
Williams’ most widely seen interview was with CNN’s Soledad O’Brien in June 2010. He attributed his conviction to the atmosphere of the time, telling O’Brien that Atlanta was in a panic and that police needed someone to blame. If the suspect had been white, he said, the city “probably would have gone up in flames.”3CNN. CNN Special Investigations Unit Transcript
The Bridge
The pivotal moment in the case against Williams came shortly before 3 a.m. on May 22, 1981, when officers on a stakeout under the Jackson Parkway Bridge said they heard a splash and saw a white Chevrolet station wagon cross the bridge, turn around in a nearby parking lot, and drive back. Two days later, Nathaniel Cater’s body was recovered from the river about 200 yards downstream.4Justia. Williams v. State, 251 Ga. 749
Williams told O’Brien he never stopped on the bridge and never threw anything into the water. He said he pulled into the parking lot after crossing to look up a phone number for a singer named Cheryl Johnson, then drove to a nearby convenience store to use a telephone. Police recruit Bob Campbell had testified to hearing the splash and seeing the station wagon’s red brake lights, and FBI agent Mike McComas testified that when officers stopped Williams, he spontaneously asked, “Is it about the missing children?”3CNN. CNN Special Investigations Unit Transcript
The Chokehold Question
Cater’s cause of death was determined to be asphyxia from a chokehold using a broad, soft surface such as a forearm.4Justia. Williams v. State, 251 Ga. 749 O’Brien asked Williams whether he knew how to kill someone that way. He deflected at first, saying it was not a simple yes-or-no question, and eventually said, “You probably could under the right circumstances.”3CNN. CNN Special Investigations Unit Transcript
The CIA Claim
O’Brien pressed Williams on a claim from his youth that at age 19 he had been recruited by or worked for the CIA. Williams would not elaborate. “I will let the document speak for itself. I’m not going to comment on that.”5CNN. CNN Special Investigations Unit Transcript
He closed by returning to the same position he had taken in 1991: “It’s not a matter of if to me. It’s a matter of when.”3CNN. CNN Special Investigations Unit Transcript
The Atlanta Monster Podcast
In 2018, the Tenderfoot TV and HowStuffWorks podcast Atlanta Monster put Williams back in front of a large audience. Host Payne Lindsey disclosed in the fifth episode that he had been in contact with Williams for two months and aired recorded phone calls from Valdosta State Prison. On those calls Williams outlined a broad conspiracy theory that swept in the FBI, Iran-Contra, and former President George H.W. Bush.6The New Yorker. Atlanta Monster: In Pursuit of Justice and a Hit Podcast The podcast also aired a theory about a possible sex-trafficking ring linked to the killings. A reviewer noted Lindsey did not heavily edit Williams’ remarks and that his claims were often difficult to parse.
The Evidence Williams Is Disputing
Understanding what Williams denies requires understanding what the state put on. Prosecutors built the case almost entirely on circumstantial evidence, most critically fiber and hair analysis. Experts testified that fibers on the victims’ bodies matched samples from Williams’ home, his car, and his German Shepherd, Sheba. The most emphasized was a green carpet fiber with an unusual trilobal or “boomerang” shape, identified as a Wellman 181-b fiber that matched carpet in Williams’ bedroom.4Justia. Williams v. State, 251 Ga. 749 The state presented seven fiber and hair associations linking Payne to Williams’ environment and six linking Cater. To show a pattern, prosecutors also introduced evidence tying Williams to ten additional murders he was never charged with.
Where His Innocence Claims Stand Legally
Williams’ statements have been paired, over the years, with repeated court filings. None has succeeded. Chief prosecutor Jack Mallard put it flatly: “every court that he has gone to has denied him.”713News Now. Atlanta Child Murders: Wayne Williams Hopes for Appeal
The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed the conviction in 1983.4Justia. Williams v. State, 251 Ga. 749 A state habeas petition was denied by Butts Superior Court Judge Hal Craig in a 60-page order.8Georgia Attorney General. Attorney General Baker Announces Wayne Williams Convictions Upheld A federal habeas petition filed in 2002 was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Beverly B. Martin in a 251-page opinion.9Law.com. Wayne Williams Federal Habeas Petition Dismissed
In 2007, a Superior Court judge ordered DNA testing on seven animal hairs from victims and crime scenes at the request of Williams’ defense. The University of California, Davis veterinary genetics lab conducted mitochondrial DNA analysis and reported that the hairs’ DNA sequence matched Sheba’s, a sequence that occurs in roughly 1 in 100 dogs. District Attorney Paul Howard said the match “finally settles the debate.” Lab director Elizabeth Wictum cautioned that the results “did not individualize” and could not conclusively identify Sheba as the sole source; there was not enough chromosomal DNA for more definitive nuclear testing. Williams’ attorney Lynn Whatley called the evidence “incomplete.”10East Bay Times. Prosecutors Say Dog Hair Links Convict to Atlanta Child Killings
In 2015, Whatley announced plans for a new appeal built on a U.S. Department of Justice study that found 96 percent of cases involving FBI microscopic hair analysis before 1999 contained flawed testimony. The DOJ identified 13 examiners whose work fell short of professional standards, and Whatley argued examiners tied to the Williams prosecution might be among them. “There are a lot of people on that jury who easily could have thought that that was a very significant piece of evidence more so than a carpet fiber,” Whatley said.713News Now. Atlanta Child Murders: Wayne Williams Hopes for Appeal Whatley said a presidential pardon might follow if the appeal failed.
Williams became eligible for parole and appeared before the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles in November 2019. The board denied parole, citing “insufficient amount of time served to date given the nature and circumstances of your offense(s).” Rick Jacobs, director of the Clemency and Parole Selection Division, encouraged Williams to “continue in your rehabilitative efforts so you will be properly prepared to succeed in the event a future consideration results in your transition back into society.”11Fox 5 Atlanta. Board Denies Parole for Wayne Williams His next parole consideration is scheduled for November 2027.
Williams remains in the Georgia prison system, serving two consecutive life sentences. Across the interviews he has given over four decades, his position has not shifted: he says he was wrongly convicted, and he expects to be released.