Real stories of Mindhunter: Season 2 finale

In the season 2 finale of Mindhunter, we spend a lot of time with “The Atlanta Monster” Wayne Williams. We also cover that last BTK scene.

We’ve finally made it. The Mindhunter season 2finale. This final episode was longer than the rest and focused almost exclusively on Wayne Williams. Williams is the man who is currently in jail for two murders that occurred near the end of the run of terror in Atlanta. Many don’t believe he was responsible for all of the murders and the show touches on this in an intelligent way. A way that seems to have left fans wanting more.

In our final deep dive we’re going to cover many of the details and moments that the police go through in the Wayne Williams investigation. There was a lot packed into this one episode so buckle up!

The Bridge Stop

In our last rundown, we did confirm that Wayne Williams was caught on the bridge after a police recruit heard a splash and he was found driving slowly off of the bridge. The time was also accurate. Williams was out at 3 AM and claimed he was going to listen to a woman sing. This was just the beginning of the Wayne Williams investigation, surveillance, and eventually, arrest.

Was he really caught on the last night of the stakeouts?

Yes. According to a summary of Soledad O’Brien’s report held by Paley Center, (which is where a lot of the information in this piece will come from), this was indeed true.

Did Williams really lie about meeting a woman?

Eventually, the cops were never able to confirm that the woman existed and the address and phone number he had didn’t work. He also did claim that she must have just given him fake information. Additionally, throughout interviews, he kept changing the time that he was supposed to be meeting her.

Did the police see nylon rope in his car and not confiscate it?

Yes, also in the Paley summary, it is mentioned that the cops saw nylon rope but did not take it as evidence. They did take dog hairs and fibers however unlike in the show. There were a lot of recruits straight out of training on the investigation and mistakes were made throughout the case.

Professions

In the Mindhunter season finale, we spend a lot of time exploring Wayne Williams’ mention of being a talent scout. This was an incredibly bad look for him because it meant that he was definitely out searching for kids in the age range of the victims. It meant that he would be picking these kids up in his car and that kids would have a reason to get into a car with him.

Was Wayne Williams really in the music business?

Wayne worked at a radio station and then became interested in finding the next Jackson 5. He did also rent studio time and never recorded. On his Murderpedia page (search “Pat Man”) there is a story about Pat Man Rogers telling another victim’s mother that a man named Wayne Williams was going to help them with their singing careers.

Was Wayne Williams a photographer? 

He and his father were both photographers. His father worked the Frank Sinatra benefit concert (mentioned in the Paley story.) In Mindhunter, they mention Wayne’s past as an arson photographer and then mention he photographed one of the crime scenes.

While a news report from the time of his arrest mentions his time as an arson photographer in 1977, there is no mention of him photographing any of the crime scenes during the murders. During his time as an arson investigation, he was indeed arrested for impersonating a police officer. He had a siren and was using it to get to scenes faster as mentioned in the show.

The evidence

The case was essentially solved with a lot of circumstantial evidence. To tighten up their case the police leaned on the fibers connecting him to certain bodies. Then there were a lot of small anecdotal things that came along from witnesses that allowed the police to move forward with arresting him.

Did someone see scratches on his arms?

Yes. After he was arrested, a coworker named Kathy Andrews mentioned that they had seen scratches on his arms. The time period given matched up with the time frame when Terry Pue went missing. Pue was known as a fighter and his body had defensive wounds that made it clear he had been in a struggle. Williams did blame these on a bush.

Was there a sketch of Williams in the task force office? 

Yes. There was a kid who escaped the back of Williams’ car and provided a sketch for investigators. His name was never released but a man named Tim Thomas recently came forward with a story that is similar to that one. In the show, the sketch was of the man last seen talking to Lubie Jeter (believed by many to have been killed by Charles Sanders), in reality, the man from the sketch was last seen speaking to Jo Jo Bell.

Were green carpet fibers found in his bedroom?

Yes. this was mentioned earlier but it is significant because this case was one of the first where forensic evidence of this nature was used to solve a case.

Was the story about his dark side coming out at a basketball court true?

Sort of. During the trial witnesses mentioned that they met Wayne on the basketball courts and that Williams may have met Jo Jo there. Later, one of these witnesses brought up the murders to Williams and he did speak ill of the kids being out in the streets. Basically blaming them for their own murders.

Arrogance

Once they’re locked on him, the police begin 24-hour surveillance of Williams as portrayed in the show. However, not all of what they displayed was real.

Did Williams stop and get the FBI food after noticing they were tailing him?

No. There is no evidence that anything close to this occurred during the case. This scene was likely added to highlight Wayne’s arrogance.

Did he hold a press conference at his house while he was being investigated?

Yes. During the press conference, he volunteered that he had failed three lie detector tests. In the show, he says that they were inconclusive.

Bonus info

• Williams did not drive to the Mayor’s house to call him out.
• Some people feel like Williams was a scapegoat because the victims he was convicted for were both over 21. However, the last few victims were all over 17. The city had imposed a curfew for kids below 17 which affected the killer’s victim pool.
• Though he was only convicted for the two adults, 20-22 more victims have been attributed to him based on the carpet fiber info.

Other killers not investigated?

At the end of the episode, we see Tench and Holden getting a rundown of all the evidence against other men that was never pursued. You can say that this was Holden’s fault for saying it was a young black male, but there were clear political factors also. Many believe the Sanders brothers were at least involved in the murder of Lubie Jeter and perhaps up to 5 of the murders.

The pedophile down the street with the Polaroids also had clear links to several of the kids who died. Holden and Tench realize only after the fact that they had ignored some of the most obvious suspects and they realize that the local PD has no interest in complicating things.

The families

A lot of the mothers, including Camille Bell still are not happy about the Williams conviction. They believe he was a scapegoat. When some of the families complained about their cases being closed, the police apparently told them that Williams was serving two life sentences so there was no need to try him for the remaining murders.

The case today

Recently, the new mayor of Atlanta Keisha Bottoms reopened the case and is soliciting new info from the people. At one point, Wayne Williams actually phoned into a town hall where some of the victim’s families were present, angering many.

BTK ending

For those not familiar with BTK, the last scene of the season makes it seem like he may have killed himself with his trophies spread out on his hotel bed. That was not the case.

If you watch the show closely, you’ll recall that the show opened on a scene of BTK being caught by his wife after having tied himself up in his house. By showing him at a hotel to close the show, they are showing us how he adapted and managed to continue doing what he was doing for so long.

Doing these deep-dives has been exhausting but we hope that you have learned something along the course of the series.

Mindhunter‘s first two seasons are currently streaming on Netflix.