Case of the Green Carpet

Threads of evidence produce an arrest in Atlanta

Two fibers, three or four dog hairs and one loud splash. Slim shreds of evidence, but last week they were enough to convince a Georgia magistrate that Wayne Bertram Williams, 23, should face a grand jury for possible indictment in the murder of Nathaniel Cater, 27, the most recent of the 28 young blacks found slain in Atlanta. Williams showed no emotion as Magistrate Albert Thompson read the decision upholding the arrest. Only later, as he was transferred back to his 6-ft. by 12-ft. isolation cell in Fulton County Jail, did the suspect comment: "This is ridiculous!"

Williams' lawyer certainly seems to think so. The case against her client, though only sketchily presented at the hearing, is "very, very weak," said Mary Welcome. It appears to rest on events observed by police in the predawn hours of May 22, when Williams was first stopped and questioned by authorities near a bridge on the Chattahoochee River, and on laboratory analysis of evidence taken from the suspect's home.

Police Cadet Freddy Jacobs testified that he saw Williams driving "really slow" and unusually close to the edge of the bridge that morning after another policeman had reported a loud splashing sound. Lieut. J.T. Campbell testified that he had helped recover Cater's body from the river two days later. In crossexamination, Williams' attorneys tried to show that the splash could have been made by a beaver. Later, Welcome pointed out that "no one even saw Williams' car stop that night on the bridge." Throwing the 146-lb. Cater from a moving automobile, she said, would have been virtually impossible.

More evidence for the prosecution came from Georgia Crime Lab Microanalyst Larry Peterson. A purple thread from Williams' bedspread, a green fiber from his bedroom rug and several hairs from his pet German shepherd, said Peterson, showed "no significant microscopic difference" from fibers found in Cater's hair. Police have long hinted at the importance of this "trace evidence," and last week said that their findings had been confirmed by forensic experts from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. None of this seemed to impress Defense Attorney Welcome. Said she to reporters after the hearing: "Any one of you could have killed Cater. You all have fibers in your hair."

Indeed, weaving an indictment, and ultimately a conviction, out of such slender threads may prove difficult for Fulton County District Attorney Lewis Slaton. Just a few days before he authorized Williams' arrest, Slaton had told reporters that the case was too weak to warrant the move. Why the D.A. changed his mind was the source of much speculation. According to some reports, Slaton's hand had been forced at a meeting he attended at the mansion of Georgia Governor George Busbee two days before Williams' arrest. Sources in both Atlanta and Washington confirmed that such a gathering had taken place and that the possibility of replacing Slaton with a special prosecutor had been discussed. Slaton sidesteps the subject: "If I had attended a meeting in the Governor's mansion, there would not have been any pressure I recognized as such. Nobody ever gave me a threat, ultimatum or deadline."

Williams' increasingly erratic behavior may have sparked the decision to make an arrest. The night before he was brought in, the suspect had led a police surveillance team on a chase through the city, driving past the homes of Mayor Maynard Jackson, Nathaniel Cater's father and finally Public Safety Commissioner Lee Brown, where he paused to honk his horn and shout. In addition, the possibility that Williams might attempt to flee was raised by reports that his father had requested information about a charter pilot at a local airport.

As Williams awaits the grand jury hearing ("within a month, but not within a week," says Slaton), investigators continue to seek evidence linking him to Cater's murder and some of the other 27 deaths. Officials are particularly intrigued by his possible links to Atlanta's gay underworld: some of the victims are believed to have been homosexual prostitutes. They are also looking into the suspect's mysterious talent-recruiting and recording business, which after three years of operation and considerable investment had yet to produce a record. Williams auditioned and courted hundreds of young black singers, mostly boys. Observed one suspicious business associate: "He had the perfect setup."

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