Memorial Task Force Set Up For Atlanta Child Murders

ATLANTA — Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has created an Atlanta Children’s Memorial Taskforce whose job it is to determine "an appropriate acknowledgement of the lives cut short during the Atlanta Child Murders," the mayor said Thursday. Wayne Williams was the only person ever convicted in connection with the deaths that happened between 1979 and 1981 during the tenure of Atlanta's first black mayor, Maynard Jackson.

Williams is serving life sentences after being of the murders of two adults in the Atlanta area. The judge allowed the prosecution to attribute 10 additional victims to him, essentially putting Williams on trial for the entire Atlanta child murders case. To date a killer has never been tried for all 29 murders.

“It is important for Atlanta to acknowledge the innocent lives lost during one of our city’s darkest hours,” said Bottoms. “This taskforce will determine a lasting and appropriate tribute for the victims and their families, and serve as a testament that those lives mattered, that African American lives matter.”

In March, Bottoms announced a joint investigative task force will reopen and retest some of the evidence from the 1970s Atlanta child murders. The task force will be composed of Atlanta police officials, Fulton County and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Modern technology will be used in examining the evidence surrounding the deaths of 22 of the 29 murders.

Here are the members of the memorial taskforce:

• Frank Ski, Chair
• Catherine Leach, Vice Chair
• Sheila Balthazar
• Anthony Terrell
• Andrea Boone
• Valerie Jackson
• Rev. Darrell Elligan
• Carolyn Long Banks
• Joe Drolet
• Karen Graham
• Michael Langford
• Brenda Muhammad
• Will Packer

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