Atlanta Mayor Shares New Details About Atlanta Child Murders Memorial

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Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced the re-examination of evidence in the Atlanta Child Murders case March 21, 2019. / Georgia Public Broadcasting

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced a memorial for victims of the Atlanta Child Murders will be placed outside of Atlanta City Hall.

During her Ask: The Mayor monthly conversation with GPB’s Rickey Bevington, Bottoms said the memorial will be in a green space on the Mitchell Street side of City Hall and there will also be an exhibit at Atlanta’s airport.

“Even people on my team had never heard of this part of Atlanta’s history,” Bottoms said. “And for us to now have this for the entire world to see I think is significant.

The Atlanta Children’s Memorial Taskforce was formed earlier this year to find an appropriate way to honor the nearly 30 people – mostly children – that were killed between 1979 and 1981 in the city.

Bottoms announced in March that evidence from the case would be re-tested as well. She told Bevington Wednesday that it’s not about relitigating the case against Wayne Williams, who has been serving life in prison for the murder of two adult men and suspected of killing at least 23 black children.

“This is not about Wayne Williams… it was not about determining his guilt or innocence specifically,” she said. “But it really was about getting answers for many other families that just had been left without answers for the last 40 years.”