Atlanta Child Murders: New Memorial Honors 20+ Killed Decades Ago

ATLANTA, GA — The young lives lost in what has come to be known as the Atlanta Child Murders are being honored through the Atlanta Children’s Eternal Flame Memorial.

An unveiling for the memorial was held Tuesday at the Atlanta City Hall grounds. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens was joined by former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Artist Gordon Huether and Camille Russell Love, executive director of the Office of Cultural Affairs, during the ceremony.

"The memorial was commissioned to honor the lives cut short during the Atlanta Child Murders. The memorial also represents the city’s gratitude to those who aided in search, recovery and healing efforts," Atlanta city officials said in a statement issued Tuesday.

According to the FBI's archive, about 29 African-American children, teens and young adults were kidnapped and killed between 1979 and 1981 in Atlanta. Specific details relating to the killings are unknown though the FBI said a large portion of the killings shared common details.

Multiple agencies joined the investigation, which was closed in 1982 when Wayne Bertram Williams was convicted of two murders, the FBI said.

According to agency records, Williams was connected to 20 more of the 29 killings.

"The Atlanta Children’s Eternal Flame Memorial was one of two projects determined by a community task force charged with establishing an appropriate acknowledgment of the victims and their families," city officials said in the statement.

The first project, the Atlanta Children’s Memorial Portraits, was displayed in the atrium at Hartfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in 2020.

“Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children,” released in 2020, chronicled the massive case in a five-part series on HBO.