“It’s 10 p.m., do you know where your children are,” Georgia TV broadcast stations asked at the end of the 1970s.
![Volunteers search for evidence in the midst of the Atlanta Child murders](https://truecrimemag.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/atlanta-child-murders-1.webp)
Between 1979 and 1981, at least 28 African-American children, teens, and young adults—mostly boys—were kidnapped and murdered in Atlanta, Georgia.
![A crowd gathers as investigators photograph the area where a child went missing](https://truecrimemag.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/atlanta-child-murders-2.webp)
In the midst of the Atlanta Child murders, more than 100 agents were working on the investigation.
The city of Atlanta imposed curfews, and parents in the city removed their children from school and forbade them from playing outside.
![Police arrive at the scene where the body of a missing child was found in 1981](https://truecrimemag.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/atlanta-child-murders-3.webp)
During the two-year murder spree, the attempts to catch the killer became so expensive that it caused the city to lose money.
![Atlanta police officials remove the body of nine-year-old Aaron Jackson, the victim of the Atlanta Child murders](https://truecrimemag.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/atlanta-child-murders-4.webp)
In 1981, Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson invited the two top names in entertainment, Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra, to perform at a benefit concert.
![Police investigate the area where the skeletons of two children were discovered on January 9, 1981](https://truecrimemag.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/atlanta-child-murders-5.webp)
![The distraught mother of one of the victims of the Atlanta Child Murders is being carried away by the police](https://truecrimemag.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/atlanta-child-murders-6.webp)
The concert raised around $200,000, and Mayor Jackson hosted a dramatic and desperate news conference, offering a reward of $100,000 to anyone who could help crack the case and stop the murders.
![Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson poses with the $100,000 reward](https://truecrimemag.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/atlanta-mayor-posing-with-the-reward-scaled.webp)
![Investigators pull the body of Nathaniel Cater out of the Chattahoochee River in 1981](https://truecrimemag.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/atlanta-child-murders-9.webp)
The same night, the mayor got a phone call from boxer Muhammad Ali, who said he would donate $400,000 to increase the reward to half a million.
![Investigators load Nathaniel Cater's body into an ambulance car in 1981](https://truecrimemag.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/atlanta-child-murders-7.webp)
![Investigators load Nathaniel Cater's body into an ambulance car in 1981](https://truecrimemag.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/atlanta-child-murders-8.webp)
![A DeKalb Count police officer watches an ambulance carrying the body of Joseph Bell, the 24th victim of the Atlanta Child murders](https://truecrimemag.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/atlanta-child-murders-10.webp)
However, a month after Muhammad’s pledge, police cracked the case on their own and arrested a 23-year-old Atlanta native Wayne Williams.
![Jurors in the Atlanta Child murders case leave the bus to walk onto the Jackson Parkway Bridge, to personally examine the site where Wayne Williams dumped his victims into the Chattahoochee River](https://truecrimemag.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/atlanta-child-murders-11.webp)
Nearly a year later, the jury found Williams guilty of the two murders and sentenced him to two consecutive life terms.
![Behind the Tape Photobook](https://truecrimemag.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/photobook.webp)
Enjoy exploring the dark, uncensored side of true crime? Behind the Tape Photobook features a hand-picked collection of the most spine-chilling crime scene photos.
WARNING: THE PHOTOBOOK ISN’T FOR THE FAINT OF HEART.
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