After a whole season of podcast episodes, our host Payne Lindsey has come just about as close to solving the controversial mystery of the Atlanta Child Murders as the police had back in the 1980\u2019s \u2013 which wasn\u2019t exactly a satisfying solution. But, he has accomplished something no one else had, which was the goal of his podcast all along: \u201cTo find truth and open dialogue around a tragedy that can no longer be ignored.\u201d For those of you who are joining for the first time, the podcast \u201cAtlanta Monster\u201d covered the Atlanta Child Murders that began in 1979. Over the course of two years, over 28 children went missing, and families in Atlanta lived in constant fear of the so-called \u201cAtlanta Monster\u201d. After a tumultuous investigation, a suspect by the name of Wayne Williams was finally arrested. The only problem was that he could only be positively linked to two of the 28 murders, and on top of that, he refuses to this day to admit any guilt. Nonetheless, the Atlanta police attributed all the murders to him anyways, and closed all the cases in an attempt to save face. Despite the arrest, however, families were uneasy. Something made them feel like the case wasn\u2019t truly solved, and that this man might not be the only \u201cAtlanta Monster\u201d. As mentioned previously, the goal of this podcast was to take listeners back 40 years, to investigate (perhaps purposefully) uncovered ground, and to find what was true and what was false about the one of the most famous crime investigations of all time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The consensus of the podcast was\nall thanks to the unbiased yet passionate investigation led by Lindsey, which is\none of the most common identifying factors throughout the entire podcast. The\nway he led his investigation was so thorough and so unbiased that he was able\nto unsurfaced information that the police would never have been able to get\ntheir hands on. Of course, it helped that this case had been closed for 40\nyears and that the risk factor wasn\u2019t quite as high, but he was still able to\nshed new light on a case that was known for being one of the darkest. Not only\nwas he able to bring an end to his investigation, but he was able to bring an\nend to many other\u2019s unresolved worries, frustrations, and fears with his\nconsensus. The podcast ended with the conclusion that Wayne Williams wasn\u2019t the\nonly child murderer. Although there were many striking similarities between all\n28 of the murders, it became clear through Lindsey\u2019s investigation that there\nwas no way only one man was responsible. While this seems like an unsatisfying\nend to the story, it at least has brought out the truth, confirmed the beliefs of\nmany of the affected families, and has brought much-needed closure to those who\nneeded it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The podcast ends in a full circle, using\nit\u2019s strategic layering of interviews to show how people who were once against\neach other\u2019s viewpoints now agreed on the consensus brought by Lindsey\u2019s\ninvestigation. Former Atlanta Police Officer \u201cPopcorn\u201d, who was at first\nconvinced that Wayne Williams was the killer, now complimented Lindsey\u2019s\nefforts for tackling misinformation and changing his viewpoint on the whole\nthing. When asked who he thought the Atlanta Monster was, he responded, \u201cOne of\nthe best ways to attack this misinformation and to try and get people to open\ntheir eyes is by you telling this very difficult story, and you\u2019ve done the\nbest you could. That speaks for itself. After all Payne, you\u2019ve attacked a case\nvery few of us understand and I commend you for trying\u2026 We don\u2019t know who the\nAtlanta Monster is. We really don\u2019t know, but I think it\u2019s clear at this point\nthat there was never any single Atlanta Monster. I think that your monster is probably\na group of some white supremacists, I think that your monster is probably the\ndangerous streets of Atlanta, and I think that your monster is Wayne Williams.\nI think we need to rename this \u2018Atlanta Monsters\u2019, not \u2018Atlanta Monster\u2019.\u201d This\nnew viewpoint from Popcorn is immediately followed by a new corroborating viewpoint\nfrom Monica Coffman Pierce, a news anchor at the time of the murders, who previously\nhad her heart set on thinking that Wayne Williams was innocent. She said, \u201cI\ndon\u2019t think [this podcast] is opening up an old wound, I think the wound is\nmostly healed because Wayne Williams is in jail and that\u2019s it. But I think what\nit\u2019s doing is informing a new generation because there\u2019s a lot of people who\u2019ve\nnever heard about this case. And so now, it serves new purposes. One, it\npresents the historical aspect, and two, it also opens up new minds to\ninvestigate the clearly unsolved case. Although, now we\u2019ll probably never know\nwho exactly took those poor black children off the streets, or who has been\nholding this information inside for all these years.\u201d Overall, in addition to\nthe many aspects that make this podcast unique, an aspect that cannot be\nignored is Payne Lindsey\u2019s incredible investigation skills and his ability to\nbring so much new information to a case, that people changed their minds to\nagree with his consensus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Word Count: 873<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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