Soledad O'Brien Investigates Case Against Nation's "First" Black Serial Killer Atlanta Child Murders debuts Thurs., June 10 at 8pm; Viewers review evidence, vote on verdict at CNN.com

Nearly 30 years after the trial of accused serial child killer Wayne Williams, CNN anchor and special correspondent Soledad O'Brien interviews Williams about the evidence used to connect him to more than two dozen murders of young adults and children that terrified the city of Atlanta, Ga. - and horrified a nation - for two years.  A new, enterprising investigation of the case, including evidence never before shared with the public, is the subject of a new, two-hour documentary, ATLANTA CHILD MURDERS, debuting Thursday, June 10 at 8pm ET and PT. 
 
Online at www.cnn.com/atlantachildmurders, CNN's Special Investigations unit has launched an interactive map of the murders, case evidence, and iReports that include submitters' memories of the dark months of fear that gripped the city.  Online users will also be able to vote their verdict on the case following the premiere broadcast on Thursday evening.

O'Brien secured the first television interview in more than 10 years with Williams.  With this exclusive access, she directly challenges Williams, who has always maintained his innocence, on the fiber evidence, alibi discrepancies, and eyewitness reports that he and his supporters continue to dispute.
 
People who recall the terrible months during which Atlantans first feared for their children's safety, suggest police were slow to mount a coordinated law enforcement investigation of the murders as serial killings in the early 1980s because the victims were poor and African American.  

The documentary also explores whether race may have been a factor in why the killer was able to move unremarkably in the mostly minority neighborhoods where the murders took place.  For years, African-American serial killers have been perceived as rare by concerned citizens and sometimes even law enforcement.  Recent research by psychologist Eric Hickey, PhD, explained in the documentary, finds that now one of every five serial killers is African-American.  

Speaking to O'Brien for the documentary, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, himself the youngest of three adolescent brothers, recalled helping to search for the young victims on weekends during the summer of 1980, when he was just 11 years old.
"We literally would walk through wooded areas - chaperoned.  And we would walk for a period of time - before nightfall," says Reed, recalling that his brothers also carefully guarded his personal safety at the time. 

By the spring of 1980, the murders had attracted so much national concern that entertainers Sammy Davis, Jr. and Frank Sinatra even held a benefit concert in Atlanta to aid the investigation.