How Is ‘Mindhunter’ Connected to the Atlanta Child Murders?

This season, Mindhunter is taking on one of the most fraught mass murder cases in American history: the Atlanta child murders. And this case is every bit as horrifying as the name sounds.

Based on a book by former FBI profiler John E. Douglas, Mindhunter follows a team of fictionalized agents in the ’70s. Their goal? To interview serial killers, mass murderers, and all sorts of deranged criminals in order to figure out how the minds of these nefarious people work, and how to profile future criminals. All of Season 1 was about gathering research as Holden (Jonathan Groff) and Bill (Holt McCallany) interviewed the Co-Ed Killer and several other murderers. This new season, on the other hand, is all about action as they try to use their research to figure out one of the most devastating cases in modern history.

What exactly were the Atlanta child murders, and what made them so complicated? Here’s what you need to know.

What were the Atlanta child murders?

Though this case is often referred to as the Atlanta child murders, the use of the word “child” is a bit misleading, as several of the victims were adults. From 1979 to 1981 at least 28 children, teenagers, and adults were killed in the Atlanta, Ga. area in a similarly brutal ways. The first victims of this spree were Edward “Teddy” Hope Smith and Alfred “Q” Evans. In the middle of 1979 both 14-year-old boys disappeared four days a part. Their bodies were later found in the woods.

1981 marked the killer’s first adult victim, Eddie Duncan. Over the course of the murderer’s many kills, only five of their victims were adults. The majority were either children or teenagers, most of them were young boys, and all were African-American.

Eventually, a man named Wayne Williams was arrested for two of the murders, that of 27-year-old Nathaniel Cater and 21-year-old Jimmy Ray Payne. Though he was never tried for the other deaths, authorities believe that he’s responsible for committing 23 of the 30 murders. Williams is currently serving out a life sentence in Telfair State Prison.

Why is the Atlanta child murder case so controversial?

What makes this case so interesting is how murky it is even to this day. Prior to the Atlanta child murders, very little research had been done into black victims of mass murder. It was assumed that killers typically targeted victims within their own race, and this case tested that theory.

Making things even more complicated was the fact that authorities had a fraught relationship with the black community in Atlanta during this time. Police were slow to catch onto the severity of these murders and didn’t immediately treat them with the manpower they deserved. That, paired with a long history of systematic injustice, made many distrustful of police. While a community was being targeted and killed, their supposed protectors couldn’t be counted on to help them.

Then there’s Williams. Williams has always maintained his innocence, claiming that the KKK was responsible for these murders in an attempt to start a race war. Williams has also maintained that Atlanta authorities covered up the KKK’s involvement and blamed the deaths on him. His case has been so historically controversial that its evidence was retested this year. In 2019, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said, “It may be there is nothing left to be tested. But I do think history will judge us by our actions and we will be able to say we tried.”

How does Mindhunter connect to the Atlanta child murders?

Basically, all of Mindhunter Season 2 revolves around Holden (Jonathan Groff), Bill (Holt McCallany), and Wendy (Anna Tov) using their criminal profiling expertise to try and get to the bottom of who committed these crimes. Typically, when any show or movie tackles this case it’s difficult to know how seriously it will take Williams’ conviction. However, thanks to the book David Fincher’s show is based on, Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit, we know what direction the series will likely take.

In Mindhunter, author and former FBI profiler John E. Douglas claimed that “forensic and behavioral evidence” linked Williams to 11 of the murders. He also noted that “no strong evidence linking him to all or even most of the deaths and disappearances of children in that city between 1979 and 1981.” If we can trust that quote as a guiding point, it seems likely that Williams will be one of the main antagonists of this new season, but the extent of his guilt will be taken with a grain of salt.

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