Reclamation, 2006

Reclamation is the title of a documentary film and art installation created by Artist William Scarbrough examining The Atlanta Child Murders.

In 1979 the bodies of two young black boys were found in a rural area southwest of Atlanta, Georgia. During the following three years, Sixty-eight African American children and young adults were murdered in and around Atlanta. Twenty-nine of these victims were linked by common evidence - a series of unique fibers found on their bodies. Eventually sources for these fibers were found in the home of Wayne Williams, a twenty three year old African American. Officials arrested and tried Williams for the murders of two of the victims, and he was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.

William Scarbrough spent five years exhaustively researching the Atlanta Child Murders, which he first watched on television news broadcasts as a young boy. He traveled to Atlanta, and all around the United States, filming interviews of the individuals actually involved in these tragic events; police officers, FBI, GBI and private investigators, attorneys, authors, reporters, victim's friends and family members, the family of Wayne Williams and even Williams himself.

Scarbrough collected documents and images from the individuals with whom he interacted and purchased era news footage and outtakes from Atlanta TV stations. He has the entire Williams family photo archive, along with the documents and letters generated throughout the appeals process. These assets compile Scarbrough's database of information and materials of The Atlanta Child Murders, a database like no other.

Scarbrough has visited and filmed significant locations associated with these murders; the home of Wayne Williams, areas where victims lived, frequented, were last seen and where their bodies were eventually dumped. He even located the actual car in which the prosecution suspect the victims were killed. Through his efforts, William Scarbrough has become one of the most respected authorities on the Atlanta Child Murders, fully understanding the complexities these cases present, nuances within the evidence as well as other plausible suspects.

In 2019, Atlanta Mayor, Keisha Bottoms reopened some cases of the murdered children. And thus The Atlanta Child Murders are once again making headlines, forcing us to re-examine them, and the guilt of Wayne Williams, all these years after his conviction.

HBO purchased Scarbrough's documentary in 2019 in development of a five episode series called, "Atlanta's Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children." It aired in 2020.

WILLIAM SCARBROUGH 2023