The Use of Fiber Evidence Wayne Williams
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| The Use of Fiber Evidence
Wayne Williams 
Wayne Williams Between 1979 and 1981 a series of brutal stranglings of young black men terrorized communities in Atlanta. Twenty-nine homicides were officially linked to the same killer, but police had little forensic evidence to track down the killer. Investigation of what became known as the “child murders” began on July 28, 1979 when a woman discovered the bodies of 2 young men concealed in the undergrowth alongside a road. By 1981, nearly 20 young black males had been murdered by strangulation or asphyxiation. Almost the only forensic evidence linking the killings were fibers found on the bodies and clothing of the victims. The yellow-green nylon fibers were unusual; coarse and tri-lobed in cross section the fibers appeared to be those used in rugs or carpets. However, police were unable to determine the manufacturer of the fibers. In February 1981, following newspaper accounts of the fiber analysis, the killer began dumping bodies in Chattahoochee River. The victims were now also nude, or nearly so. It appeared that the killer was monitoring media coverage of the killings, and modifying his methods to reduce fiber evidence on the victim’s bodies. Police began staking out bridges along the Chattahoochee River in an effort to catch the killer dumping a body. Early on the morning of May 22, 1981, a police patrol heard a splash. Police stopped a station wagon on the James Jackson Parkway Bridge. The driver was 23-year-old Wayne Bertram Williams, a music promoter. He was questioned by police, but allowed to leave. Two days later, the body of Nathaniel Cater was recovered from the Chattahoochee River, a mile downstream of the James Jackson Parkway Bridge. Police obtained a search warrant for Williams’ house. Throughout his house, carpet similar to the yellow-green fibers found in the early victims. In order for this to be conclusive enough to tie Williams to the murders, police needed to demonstrate that these carpet fibers were not commonly found. Working with chemists at DuPont, the world’s largest producer of fibers, FBI analysts passed the fibers through a spinneret. This device stretches fibers giving it optical properties. This device allowed the FBI to trace the fibers to Wellman Inc., a Boston based textile company. Wellman had manufactured and sold these fibers to various carpet makers from 1967b to 1974. Because each carpet manufacturer uses its own dyes and weaving techniques, the fibers were traced to a carpet manufacturer in Dalton, Georgia. Over a single 12 month period, the factory had made just 16,397 square yards of carpet using that fiber in that color, English Olive. Police and FBI still needed to demonstrate that this fiber was extremely uncommon in houses in Atlanta. Police knew that 16 297 square yards of Luxaire English Olive carpet were produced and sold through retail outlets 10 southeastern carpets from 1970 to 1971. However, in 1979, DuPont estimated that 6.7 billion square yards of carpet were carpeted in residences in the United States. Police calculated that the probability of finding a room in a house in metropolitan Atlanta carpeted in that shade of carpet was 1 in 7792. Although the murderer was thought to be linked to 28 to 30 killings, police and prosecutors decided to focus on just 2 cases; Nathaniel Cater and Jimmy Ray Payne whose semi-nude body had been recovered from the Chattahoochee River on April 27, 1981. In the latter case, police had also found a fiber on the victim’s shorts similar to fibers found in the carpeting in Williams’ station wagon. Chevrolet provided details on the number of pre-1973 vehicles fitted with this carpet. Police determined that out of 2 million cars registered in the Atlanta metropolitan area in 1981 that only 680 vehicles with this carpeting were registered. Therefore, the odds of the victim coming into contact with this fiber from any other car than Williams’ was 1 in 3,828. Although these may not seem impressive enough to convict someone of murder, consider that the odds of both events happening (i.e. of Payne picking up the fiber from somewhere other than Williams’ car and of Cater picking up the fiber from somewhere other than Williams’ house) was 1 in 29,827,776. As a result of mainly the fiber evidence, a jury found Williams guilty of the murder of Nathaniel Cater and Jimmy Ray Payne, and Williams is currently serving 2 life terms in prison. References Owen, David. (2000) Hidden Evidence: Forty true crimes and how forensic science helped solve them. Quintet Publishing. Evans, Colin. (1996) The Casebook of forensic detection: How science solved 100 of the world’s most baffling crimes. John Wiley and Sons. Questions What made the fibers found on the victims unusual? What did the perpetrator do that indicated he was following news coverage of the killings? Why did Wayne Williams become the primary suspect? What was the probability of finding a house in Atlanta with the same shade of carpet as the fiber found on the victims? What was the probability of finding fibers that matched Wayne Williams’s car in Atlanta? What is the combined probability that a victim would have come in contact with similar carpet fibers and car fibers from a source other than Wayne Williams? Now it is your turn. The following cases include some common types of evidence and the frequency each type of evidence occurs in the general population. Multiply the percentages given together for each case (convert to decimals first!) to calculate the combined probability of the following independent types of evidence occurring in the same case: Case A: Brown hair (51%) and Type O blood (43%) Case B: Blonde hair (32%), Type AB blood (3%), and a Whorl fingerprint (33%) Case C: Red hair (11%), Type O blood (43%), Arch fingerprint (5%), and Male (49%) How does adding new evidence (such as fibers, hair color, blood type, etc.), affect the number of possible suspects based on your answers in #7? 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