Wayne Williams Research Paper

Serial Killer: Wayne Williams

Criminology Final

Sean Bateman

University of the Cumberland’s In today’s society there has always been a fascination with serial killers. The general public is more intrigued and curious about these figures than they are scared of them. Some people are even obsessed with them. Charles Manson reportedly just got married while he was in prison. He’s not the only one to have such a strong fan base and following. For years it seems as society has more or less fallen in love with some of mankind’s most evil human beings. However, I’m not here to discuss this peculiar fascination we have on these notorious serial killers. I’m not even going to talk about history’s most famous ones such as Dahmer, Manson, or

Williams to the murders is considered “circumstantial”. Mr. Williams was stopped and questioned by the police around 48 hours before a dead body showed up at the scene. Mr. Williams gave the cops a story that later turned out to be false. Around 48 hours after this encounter with law enforcement the naked body of 27 year old Nathaniel Carter showed up. His body was discovered when an officer heard a “loud splash” and went to investigate. The autopsy put his time of death or 36 – 48 hours prior the day right around the time Mr. Williams was at the scene of the crime. Based on this evidence and a crime map mapping out the victims locations, ages, and body location Mr. Williams became the prime suspect and was arrested. He was arrested for the murders of Nathaniel Carter, and Jimmy Ray Payne. There was not enough evidence to connect him to the other murders at the time although he was believed to have been guilty of those as

Williams’s innocence. Mr. Williams who is now in his 50s “still claims his innocence”. When you think of serial killers many of them are more or less proud and own up to what they have done. Mr. Williams is a different kind of serial killer when you look at his entire life however. He had a very good upbringing by to very loving parents both of whom were school teachers. This caused many people to live in disbelief that a child of two school teachers could have murdered so many children himself. Most serial killers don’t grow up in such a positive environment with two loving parents. Another factor that separates Mr. Williams from other serial killers is his ethnicity. Historically and statistically speaking most serial killers are white. Mr. Williams is black. Mr. Williams case is special in a lot of areas he really separates himself from other serial killers. Even though he hasn’t necessarily gone down on the list as the most notorious of serial killers his case just goes to show you the stereotypical components it takes to create a serial killer such as a bad childhood, ethnic factors, education factors, and mental stability don’t always apply. Aside from being a possible compulsive liar Mr. Williams didn’t show any signs of mental deficiency. It’s not my job to help convince you whether Mr. Williams is innocent or guilty he was found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. There’s no denying that innocent people have