In the summer of 1980, a wave of fear was spreading through Atlanta, Georgia, as children, primarily African American boys, were disappearing and being found murdered. This string of tragedies, which would later be known as the Atlanta Child Murders, struck another family on July 6, 1980, with the death of 9-year-old Anthony Bernard Carter. A young Black male, Anthony was last seen playing hide-and-seek with his cousin outside his home in the West End neighborhood.
Anthony lived with his
mother, Vera, in a red brick apartment and was a student at E.R. Carter Elementary. He was known to take on odd jobs at the nearby West End Mall. The joyful sounds of a child's game tragically turned into a prelude to heartbreak. After his disappearance, a search was launched, but it would not be long before the worst was confirmed.
His body was discovered in a warehouse area, near a dumpster, in the rear of the 600 block of Glenn Street SW. The cause of death was determined to be multiple stab wounds. Investigators at the time believed that his body had been moved to that location sometime after he was killed.
Anthony Carter was one of at least 28 children, adolescents, and young adults who were killed in Atlanta between 1979 and 1981. The series of murders sparked a massive investigation and widespread panic. Eventually, a man named Wayne Williams was arrested and convicted in 1982 for the murders of two of the adult victims. Following his conviction, law enforcement officials attributed a number of the child murders, including Anthony Carter's, to Williams. However, he was never formally charged with or tried for the deaths of any of the children. Williams has always maintained his innocence in all the cases. In 2019, the Atlanta Police Department reopened the child murder cases in the hope that new technological advancements could provide definitive answers and long-awaited justice for the victims and their families.
