Atlanta murder arrest

Press, 23 June 1981, Page 8

Atlanta murder arrest

NZPA-Reuter Atlanta A black photographer was charged yesterday with murdering the last of 28 young blacks killed in the Atlanta area over a 23-month period, but the police refused to describe him As a suspect in the other murders. Wayne Williams, aged 23, was accused of the murder of Nathaniel Cater, aged 27, whose body was discovered on May 24 in the Chattahoochee River, west of Atlanta. He had been questioned by the police two days before Cater's body was found and was taken into custody for further interrogation on June 3, but until yesterday authorities said there was ■not enough evidence to warrant an .arrest. Last week Williams sought injunctions against the media and the police in an effort to escape the constant publicity that had' surrounded him since his questioning. Officials would not say what development led to the decision to arrest Williams. District Attorney Lewis Slaton had previously said that

evidence from fibres collected in a search of his home, from carpets, a robe and blankets; was. alone insufficient to charge him. Williams was first picked up when policemen and F. 8.1. agents staking out the Chattahoochee River heard a splash and minutes later found Williams driving over a bridge on the river. He was allowed to go, - but came under intensive investigation when two days later Cater’s body was found a few hun-

dred metres from the bridge. Although the police refused to link Williams with the other murders. Mr Slaton has said on several occasions that Cater's death was related to as many as 13 of the total under investigation. Like 16 other victims on the list, Cater had been asphyxiated. He was found nude, as were six other victims and. like five others, he was found in the Chattahoochee. Cater was, at 27, the oldest

of the victims and he was also one of the biggest at about 90kg. Most of the others were slightly built and much younger. Officials in the Government and business community of Atlanta reacted in lowkey fashion to news of the arrest. “I’m overjoyed that we'Ve made an arrest at this point. We’re very grateful that the District Attorney has moved,” said Atlanta's Mayor, Maynard Jackson.