Page 9 - On Wayne News Today

>> 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 -- >> there was no yellow blanket to be found that i co...

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 carpet fibers. >> theyre the only company to produce a fiber like this. >> but larry peterson was still in the dark. >> i had no idea there was a bridge incident. >> he had...

>> or maybe you got rid of it between the first time they searched and they came back. >> seems like to me if i was a police officer i would have confiscated the blanket. it doesnt make sense. >> the prosecution was allowed to bring in ten other deaths -- among them patrick baltazar, eric middlebrooks, jo-jo bell, to try to show a pattern. >> this is a chart showing fibers that were recovered from the body of patrick baltazar. >> fibers consistent with that blanket, with wayne williams bedspread...

He was doing everything he can to outsmart everybody. and it was like, i did it but can you prove i did it? >> camille bell, yusefs mother, believed wayne to be innocent. she feels that last day on the witness stand convicted him. >> and then when he flared off, then they were ready to say, well, okay, so he does have fire. >> when you got angry with the prosecutor, you said, youre a drop shot. >> i called him a drop shot. >> whats a drop shot? what does that mean? >> quite simply in our vernacu...

>> this is where the confusion with all of us came in. i got back from hotlanta records probably about 9:00, 9:30. >> but theres no one to corroborate that, even if his mother were still alive. wayne said she probably didnt see him come in. prosecutor jack mallard. >> he was out that night, no question in my mind. he was not at home. he was out and about. >> less than six hours after henry said he saw williams and cater here, police heard a splash under this bridge. caters body washed up downstr...

>> supporters of wayne williams say there was one murder which shows the fiber evidence could be faulty. the death of 12-year-old clifford jones, left by a dumpster in an alley on a summer night in 1980. some of those unusual green carpet fibers were on his body. yet, another boy said he saw a coin laundry operator kill clifford jones. detective welcome harris said the boy was not believable. >> he exaggerated stuff. he could -- in other words, he was open to suggestions. and if you said that mi...

Opening yourself up for all kinds of things. >> we asked wayne what he meant. when you say thats not giving anybody a license to kill but youre opening yourself up for all kinds of things -- >> my point is very simple. all right. if youre out roaming the streets like -- not all of these but some of these victims were -- you put yourself in a position for bad things to happen. >> for days, the district attorney was reluctant to take wayne williams to court based on fibers alone. while he hesitate...

Finding these same -- all of these fibers? the chances would be just astronomical. >> this witness, robert henry, did place williams with the very last victim, nathaniel cater. henry worked with cater. he said he saw him leave this theater with wayne williams on the night of the bridge incident. henry has no doubt even today about what he saw. >> they were holding hands, you know, like male and female. well, if youre holding hands with one of my co-workers and both of you are males what am i sup...

Back of the studio and he had horrible scratches on his arms. >> deep and painful, crisscrossing both arms. >> it was more this way and that way and that way and that way and that way. and they were angry-looking. and when i looked at him, the first words out of my mouth was, "oh, wayne, what happened? that looks awful." and he said he had fallen into a bush. >> 15-year-old terry pue died late that january. his body dropped by the roadside in a rural county 20 miles from home. he had been strang...

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 woods and rivers and hes sitting there in total control. >> richard radcliff was the fbi polygraph examiner. >> i said i dont care what you threw in the bridge, i dont care what you threw in t...