Atlanta's Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children

Series premiere. Known as "The City Too Busy to Hate," in the 1970s Atlanta is on the rise, fueled by excitement over the election of the city's first black mayor. Below the surface, however, long-held racial and economic divisions are percolating. When African American children begin disappearing and showing up dead, the city is on the verge of an unprecedented crisis.

By 1980, citizens take matters into their own hands. When a volunteer search party finds a slain child in an area local police canvassed a day earlier, the FBI is called in. But even the Feds seem to make little headway, and conspiracy theories abound. We learn more about Wayne Williams, a local talent scout, who might have been recruiting some of the victims.

With the city's reputation on the line, and the murder count rising, law enforcement faces immense pressure to make an arrest. On May 22, 1981, an FBI stakeout of the city's bridges leads investigators to 23-year-old Wayne Williams, who becomes the main suspect in the killings and is promptly arrested in connection to the murders of two men in their 20s.

An FBI stakeout of the city's bridges leads investigators to Wayne Williams. As Williams' trial gets underway, victims' families, the press and the public descend on the courthouse to witness the trial.

Wayne Williams' appeals attorney receives evidence connecting the Klan to the murders. Forty years after the murders began, the victims' family members assert their unwavering commitment to finding out what really happened.