Wayne Williams (pictured) was given two life sentences for convictions in the deaths of two adults and evidence tied him to other murders
Atlanta's mayor and chief of police are leading a push to re-examine evidence from a string of murders from 1979 to 1981 that terrorized the city's black community.
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Police Chief Erika Shields announced Thursday that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation will review evidence in the so-called 'Atlanta Child Murders' to see if any could be used for further testing.
Wayne Williams was given two life sentences in 1982 for convictions in the deaths of two adults, thought to be among 29 black children and young adults killed.
After his conviction, police closed 22 other cases and blamed them on Williams without formally charging him.
The announcement comes as law enforcement across the country have been able to close cold cases by comparing DNA samples to genetic testing databases.
Authorities will re-examining evidence in the hope that technological breakthroughs might point to a definite killer in the cases, most of which were never solved, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said Thursday.
She said officials hoped to provide closure to the families of victims who have sought answers about their children's killers for decades.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, (left), and Police Chief Erika Shields, (right), announced that evidence will be reviewed in the so-called 'Atlanta Child Murders' to see if any could be used for further testing
29 young black people - most of them males - were murdered between between 1979 and 1981.
The case sparked widespread fear for the safety of children. At least two dozen were children between the ages of 7 and 17.
Williams was arrested in 1981 and charged in the murders of Nathaniel Cater and Jimmy Ray Payne, who were both adults. He was found guilty of both killings in 1982 and sentenced to life in prison.
The former news reporter and wannabe music producer was 23 at the time.
He was convicted, in part, on forensic technology that connected dog's hairs and numerous fibers that had been found in Williams' home and car, to Cater and Payne.
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms told a conference on Thursday: 'We are taking a fresh look at these cases and to determine once and for all if there is additional evidence that may be tested.
Williams always maintained his innocence for the crimes and said authorities wanted to convict a black man because arresting a white man might have sparked a race war
'It may give some peace to the extent that peace can be had in a situation like this.
'To let the victims' families know that we have done all that we can do to make sure that their memories are not forgotten and to let the world know that black lives do matter.'
Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields also said that she hoped the reexamination of the cases would bring some closure to families.
Chief Shields said: 'Even though there is evidence tying Williams to these 22 children, he was only ever tried on the cases of two murdered adults.
Chris Richardson, (left), was strangled to death in June 1980 and Patrick Rogers, (right), was bludgeoned to death months later in November 1980
