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Wayne Williams Case
A forensic investigator with experience working crime scenes is encouraged after locating key fibers on a victim. That is because the investigator's training has taught him that even small fibers can lead to a suspect. In the Wayne Williams child murder case, the use of fibers as evidence not only enabled law enforcement to prove that Williams was the killer, the use of fiber evidence in that case has become helpful in subsequent police investigations. The Williams case represented a classic crime incident in which trace fibers were absolutely vital in the prosecution of a murderer, and as such, this case represents an extremely valuable example for use in future forensic discoveries at crime scenes. This paper reveals crime scene strategies that were foolproof and linked Williams beyond any doubt to the killings.
Fibers and Wayne Williams' Guilt
Williams was a suspect in multiple murders that took place in the Atlanta area between 1979 through 1981. And after Williams failed a polygraph test, the fibers on one of his victim's bodies were found "…to be consistent with those...
Williams was so certain that he would not be found guilty he "…taunted [police] with insults and jokes," but he was nonetheless arrested on June 21, 2981 and his trial began on January 6, 1982 (Chaney). The prosecution's case was built around fibers which came from 19 different sources -- including Williams' bedspread, bathroom, gloves, clothes, carpets, his dog and an "unusual trilobal carpet fiber" -- and were matched beyond any doubt to several of his victims (Chaney).
The National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS, 1984) reports on "Part 1" of its report that the fibers matched between the bodies Williams' victims and Williams' home and car was "…an essential part of the case." While fibers have been used as forensic evidence in the past in other cases, the NCJRS stated that the Williams case differed in "several ways," including the fact that fibers were used to link Williams to "a large number of victims"; in those cases, "fiber evidence was the main evidence" (NCJRS, p.…
Works Cited
Chaney, A. (2008) Wayne Williams. Princeton University. Retrieved July 20, 2013, from http://www.princeton.edu.
National Criminal Justice Reference Service. (1984). Fiber Evidence and the Wayne Williams
Trial (Part 1). Retrieved July 20, 2013, from http://www.ncjrs.gov.
National Criminal Justice Reference Service. (1984). Fiber Evidence and the Wayne Williams
Trial (Conclusion). Retrieved July 20, 2013, from http://www.ncjrs.gov.
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