We’re back in Atlanta during the summer of 1979, and children are still going missing. Dead bodies are still showing up in the riverbanks. Families still live in fear of the Atlanta Monster. And despite the best efforts of the police, the monster is still on the prowl. But who was this monster? The Atlanta police couldn’t tie any evidence to any suspect, let alone describe who the perpetrator was. It wasn’t until the FBI and performed their investigation that some light was finally shed on the matter. In accordance to their previous studies on serial killers, the Atlanta Monster was most likely African American (because serial killers don’t usually cross racial lines), male (because he needed to be strong enough to have killed the victims the way he did), and commonly seen with children (because he must have been a trustworthy figure to have repeatedly captured so many children). This profile, alongside being in the wrong place at the wrong time, is what landed Wayne Williams in the hands of the police – the man who was ultimately charged for all of the Atlanta murders. In retrospect, we podcast listeners know that he truly is the killer and that the police have caught the right man, but back when we were actively listening to the podcast, this was by far the most suspenseful and mysterious part of the story. Who was Wayne Williams, and could he truly be the Atlanta Monster? The podcast could have simply stated that the police had their man the second they arrested Williams, but it chose not to. They mysteriously shrouded the character of Wayne Williams, and kept listeners guessing to incorporate suspense and mystery into their story.
One way that the podcast makes a mystery out of Wayne Williams is by including interviews of people’s thoughts on him from both perspectives – one from the people who were convinced he was innocent, and the other from the people who were convinced he was guilty. Whether it be family, friends, public, or police being interviewed about him, it all adds to the conflict faced in the story – was Wayne Williams really the serial killer they were looking for? The interviews start with ones from friends and family, leading the reader to think that he couldn’t possibly be the murderer. One of the most significant of these interviews was one from Monica Pearson, one of his friends and coworkers. She said, “I was just a news anchor at that time. And from our viewpoint, it was like, what? This was a guy we worked with, who was a freelance photographer however, and a lot of us knew him. There was chatter of ‘Not Wayne! He is so mild-mannered. What do you mean? He couldn’t hurt a fly.’” Another one of these interviews that corroborates those from friends and family is from Wayne’s 7th grade teacher, Archie Wilson. He said, “Wayne was bright, a very intelligent young man. A quiet, very respectful, honest student. Very dependable too, just an ideal student.” These interviews painted a picture in listeners’ heads – a picture of Wayne Williams as a wrongfully convicted man. But just as these interviews in Wayne’s favor ended, the ones against him started. The podcast then played many interviews from police and FBI agents who were certain Williams was the perpetrator, furthering the convolution around Wayne Williams’ character. A turning point in the story is when former FBI agent Richard Radcliff gives Williams the polygraph test, and his account is as follows: “It’s human nature to want to trust people, so I assumed he would pass the test. He stayed pretty much composed the whole time… But after a long conversation, I asked the question that brought me there in the first place. Did you kill Nathaniel Cater? Did you throw his body over the bridge that night? He said no, just denied it… But the test showed that he was deceptive. And that’s the first indication in two years of who did it. ‘Wow, so you’re the guy we’re looking for’ was how I was reacting as I graded the test out… I’ll be darned, he was the guy killing all these kids.” Now, thanks to the podcast’s clever interview organization, listeners were left even more conflicted about who Wayne Williams was. It was these interviews, with such opposite views of Wayne, that developed Wayne’s character in such a mysterious way.
In addition to this, the podcast oddly develops the character of Williams is by omitting his perspective from the story entirely. Even after everyone else’s interviews, opinions, and hypotheses have been presented in the podcast, listeners still haven’t heard from Williams himself. By purposely talking around the character of Wayne, an element of mystery is incorporated into the story. All listeners have to compose a picture of Wayne in their minds is the word of other people – which is clearly conflicting, as mentioned previously. By consistently developing Wayne’s character in such abstract ways, the podcast creates an identity that is unique to itself. It adds suspense, excitement, and depth to the story it’s telling, leaving listeners anxious to hear from the murderer himself.
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I really enjoyed following up on your blog discussion this week as a continuation of your previous discussion. This podcast seems more interesting, as only a few episodes into it, they caught the murderer. What was interesting to me was the fact that they profiled and created a character of the murderer based off of such little information garnered about him: that he was most likely African American since racial lines aren’t usually crossed by serial killers, male because of the strength required to kill victims in the fashion he did, and the most interesting conclusion in my opinion- he had to have been seen often with children because he must have been trustworthy enough to have lured in so many children. These conclusions also have me questioning whether or not they would be valid conclusions to make today; would assuming his race cause a backlash and claims of racial profiling? Would assuming he is male be a sexist assumption? I think in today’s climate, these assumptions would cause a massive reaction among the public, and would either not be released to the public, or not assumed at all. I also think the interesting aspect of this podcast is the countering arguments made between those that didn’t believe Williams was the murderer and those that did believe he was. You stated that as the listener, we know for sure he was the killer, but in the podcast, it is not made clear until the end. I wonder what the reactions will be of those that didn’t believe he was the murderer when they find out the decision of the court and the proof of the evidence at the end. Will the narrators of the podcast play any more interviews with those people? Or did they remain quiet when they found out that the man they truly believed was innocent, turned out to be a serial killer? I’m intrigued and eager to hear more about this podcast, and how the character of William evolves and gets portrayed throughout the rest of the series.
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