For nearly fifty years, Wayne Williams has insisted he is innocent. But when you step back and examine the evidence as a whole, the picture becomes far more complicated.

In this episode of UNMARKED, I dig through FBI files, surveillance reports, witness statements, and forensic evidence to understand the man at the center of one of America's most controversial murder investigations. Along the way, I speak with award-winning journalist Clemson Richardson, who covered the Atlanta Child Murders as they unfolded and witnessed the fear that gripped the city firsthand.

Together, we examine the patterns investigators saw: the dump sites, the escalating violence, the witness sightings, the fiber evidence, and the psychological profile of a man who spent decades trying to control the narrative surrounding himself.

Was Wayne Williams a psychopath? A scapegoat? Or something far more complicated?

Research Notes:

MiinChai, A. M., Yaksic, E., Chopin, J., Fortin, F., & Hewitt, A. (2022). Time After Time: Factors Predicting Murder Series’ Duration. CrimRxiv.

Stuart, R. (1981, June 22). Suspect in Atlanta: Young, big ideas, but a career of limited achievements. The New York Times, A1.

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If you want to follow the cases as I’m working on them, you can find me on Instagram — @jamesbuddyday

If you want to go deeper into the Charles Manson case, my book Charles Manson: The Last Words documents years researching the story and speaking directly with members of the Manson Family — including Charles Manson himself.

Read it here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GQ6QRVQ7

For those who want to examine the evidence directly, complete phone calls and documents are available inside UNMARKED: Case Files, our research portal, along with ad-free episodes.

Join here:
https://www.patreon.com/Unmarked_TrueCrimePodcast

UNMARKED: A True Crime Podcast is hosted by Audioboom.

#WayneWilliams #AtlantaChildMurders #TrueCrime #SerialKiller #UnmarkedPodcast

In 2008, 16-year-old Erin Caffey was accused of helping orchestrate the murder of her own family in rural East Texas. But nearly two decades later, one question still divides everyone who studies the case: Who was really responsible?

Using newly released police recordings, interviews, court records, and original reporting from East Texas, this episode reconstructs the psychology behind the Caffey family murders. Was Erin Caffey a manipulative teenage psychopath? Was she controlled by her older boyfriend, Charlie Wilkinson? Or did a volatile group dynamic slowly normalize violence until fantasy became real?

This investigation explores adolescent identity, religious isolation, coercive relationships, group psychology, and the dangerous emotional fusion that can happen when rebellion, romance, and resentment collide.

If you want to follow the cases as I’m working on them, you can find me on Instagram — @jamesbuddyday

If you want to go deeper into the Charles Manson case, my book Charles Manson: The Last Words documents years researching the story and speaking directly with members of the Manson Family — including Charles Manson himself.

Read it here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GQ6QRVQ7

For those who want to examine the evidence directly, complete phone calls and documents are available inside UNMARKED: Case Files, our research portal, along with ad-free episodes.

Join here:
https://www.patreon.com/Unmarked_TrueCrimePodcast

UNMARKED: A True Crime Podcast is hosted by Audioboom.

John Wayne Gacy murdered at least 33 young men and boys. But for years after his conviction, attorney Karen Conti sat across from him on death row, trying to understand the man behind one of America’s most infamous serial murder cases.

In this episode of UNMARKED, Conti describes what Gacy was really like behind closed doors: his manipulation, emotional detachment, need for control, and the contradictions that made him so difficult to fully understand. We also examine modern psychological and criminological research surrounding psychopathy, trophy-taking, victim selection, and the environmental patterns that shape serial killers.

Why did Gacy keep victims beneath his own home when most serial killers attempt to distance themselves from the crime? What did he reveal in private that the public never saw? And what happens when someone spends years speaking directly with a man the world has already reduced to a monster?

Show Notes:

Walter, M., Beauregard, E., & Chopin, J. (2024). Trophy, souvenir, or simple theft? Taking items from the victim in sexual homicide. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 42(4), 338–353.

More from Karen Conti here: https://www.karenconti.com/

Follow James Buddy Day on Instagram: @jamesbuddyday

Lean is having a Huge Memorial Day Sale. Visit takelean.com and enter THANK YOU 25 for 25% off.

When writing Buddy uses FÜM — don’t just try to quit. Upgrade the habit loop: .https://tryfum.com/unmarked

If you want to go deeper into the Charles Manson case, Buddy’s book Charles Manson: The Last Words: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GQ6QRVQ7

For those who want to examine the evidence directly, complete phone calls and documents are available inside UNMARKED: Case Files, our research portal, along with ad-free episodes: https://www.patreon.com/Unmarked_TrueCrimePodcast

UNMARKED: A True Crime Podcast is hosted by Audioboom.