(Photo by Nina Subin)Įver since, the Atlanta Child Murders have been the focus of books (including Jones’ 2002 Leaving Atlanta and one by James Baldwin), documentaries and scripted TV series. Her first novel, “Leaving Atlanta,” fictionalizes that time. Tayari Jones was 8 in 1979 when the Atlanta Child Murders began. But most of the children’s cases, which had been attributed to the 23-year-old, never went to trial and were closed days after Williams’ 1982 sentencing. Wayne Williams, the prime suspect, was tried and convicted of murdering two adults. By 1981, the bodies of nearly 30 children and young adults were found - including two of Jones’ classmates. Tayari Jones was 8 years old in Atlanta’s summer of 1979 when reports of missing African American children began to dominate headlines and the evening news.
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