Page 8 - On Wayne News Today

Said somebody is a street urchin. come on, were talking about murder. the fact is, i didnt kill anybody. >> the jury didnt come back until late the second evening. the verdict, guilty on both counts of murdering the two adults, cater and payne. wayne williams was sentenced to serve two life terms. >> people only wanted to look at the negative side because they wanted in their heart for this case to be over and for wayne to be the atlanta monster. they wanted closure at any cost. >> leaving court...

Testimony would last almost two months. it would be a trial like no other before. a case built on fibers -- no fingerprints, no murder weapon, no apparent motive. now, remember, youre the juror with three choices, guilty, innocent or not proven. this time the verdicts yours. mary welcome was wayne williams defense attorney. >> good morning. good morning. how are you? >> this was her first murder trial. what was he like when you met him? >> a most unlikely killer. >> yeah? why? >> because he just...

But wayne said, i had the vehicle and i didnt want to corrupt the -- my dads testimony in the eyes of the jury, so i lied about it and said i didnt have it on the stand. >> what makes this important is what time robert henry says he saw wayne and nathaniel cater together. >> it was about 9:15 to 9:30. it was on luckie and forsyth street in downtown atlanta. >> so at the trial you said that you were in bed until 10:00 p.m. you were so sick that your mother said she had to help lie your body out o...

Again, the medical examiner said cater could have been killed, quote, with a choke hold, trapping the neck in the crook of the arm. his would be the last body found in the atlanta murders. the 27th male victim. at caters funeral, wayne williams father, homer, took this photo for the "atlanta world" newspaper. on june 3rd, the fbi brought wayne in for a long night of questioning. wayne agreed to a lie detector test. >> he was as composed and calm as you can get. got 26 bodies out there in the woo...

Amount of time. it was a ten-year-old carpet. >> on jimmy payne, the other victim, dedman found yellow rayon fibers stuck to his cotton shorts, fibers consistent with the blanket under waynes bed. >> i personally took the cutting from the yellow blanket that was under the bed. >> this evidence slide contains the yellow blanket fibers that dedman clipped that night, magnified by our own video camera. but when larry peterson had returned that june for a second search a couple weeks later -- >> the...

Nothing. >> he acknowledged he failed a lie detector test. then asked about the victims, wayne williams said this. >> some of these kids in places they dont have no places being at certain times of the day or night. some of them dont have no kind of home supervision. theyre just running around in the streets wild. im saying when youre doing that, thats not giving anybody a license to kill but youre opening yourself up for all kinds of things. >> we asked wayne what he meant. when you say thats n...

Your father said you stopped to get rid of some trash. >> no, he -- my father never said that. i never said that and my father never said it. >> while father and son were inside the fbi, evidence technicians were combing the williams home. the fbis top fiber expert, harold dedman, led the search. in waynes bedroom he took clippings from a purple bedspread and from a yellow blanket. >> your blanket was located under wayne williams bed. >> on the floor, a green carpet. this is a blow-up of those c...

>> for days, the district attorney was reluctant to take wayne williams to court based on fibers alone. while he hesitated, the fbi, police and media all kept a watch on wayne. in this parking lot one day, he showed an angry face to a cnn camera crew. >> well, hey, im telling you to quit following me because im saying at this point youre following me and youre on private property and if i were you id get the hell off it. >> finally, on fathers day evening, 1981, detectives arrive to arrest wayne...

Testimony would last almost two months. it would be a trial like no other before. a case built on fibers -- no fingerprints, no murder weapon, no apparent motive. now, remember, youre the jury with three choices, guilty, innocent or not proven. this time the verdicts yours. mary welcome was wayne williams defense attorney. >> good morning. good morning. how are you? >> this was her first murder trial. what was he like when you met him? >> a most unlikely killer. >> yeah? why? >> because he just ...

He could -- in other words, he was open to suggestions. and if you said that mickey mouse was up there and if he sensed that you wanted him to say that, hed say yeah. >> wayne supporters point out the laundry manager failed two police lie detector tests. but few are aware of a third test given by the fbi examiner, richard radcliff. the result -- >> in laymans terms, he passed. he wasnt involved in killing jones. >> only days after wayne williams was convicted of killing two adults, atlantas poli...