Wheres The Money?
After a suspect was arrested for the Atlanta murders in 1981, half a million dollars in reward money went missing.
Most Americans have trust issues when it comes to the government. Transparent is not an adjective used often to describe the government. Historically, the American government has been shrouded in secrecy. From its inception, the relationship between the government and the general public has been on a need to know basis.
On September 4, 2018, Atlanta’s mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms launched a website called “Open Checkbook”. This website allows Atlanta’s residents to view how over $2 billion dollars of the city’s money is being handled. According to the City of Atlanta website, Along with seeing how their tax dollars are being spent, residents can also access city budgets, expenditures, contracts with vendors, and can easily search, follow, and analyze the business of the city.
I am positive that the ethical criticisms of her predecessor, Kasim Reed, fueled Mayor Lance Bottoms’ Open Checkbook initiative. The website is one of the beginning steps to gaining the trust of the public and shifting the perception of local government in Atlanta.
When I saw the press release for Mayor Lance Bottoms’ Open Checkbook, I immediately thought of the famous picture from 1981 of Maynard Jackson, Atlanta’s first black mayor, sitting behind a $100,000 cash reward, which soon became $500,000. Leading up to the photo Atlanta had been dealing with a suspected serial killer. People die or go missing every day but, the frequency and similarities of the murders at that time was what made the situation so drastic. In a matter of almost 2 years over 20 young black men had gone missing or been found dead. The public was fearful and city officials were desperate to find whoever was committing all the murders.
After covering every inch were the bodies were found and still not finding any clues leading to the murderer. The investigation was expensive though, according to a Washington Post article, the city was losing money having to pay $150,000 a month in police overtime. In addition, President Regan had granted the city of Atlanta $1 million for protection and mental health programs to help Atlanta cope, but none of the money could be used to find the killer. In attempts to find more information, Mayor Jackson decided to throw a benefit concert to raise money.
The concert was a big success. Naturally, with the late Burt Reynolds introducing names like Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra to the stage, they had no problem filling up the civic enter. People paid $25 to $100 to get into the event. Those profits combined with donations from Atlanta cooperations like Coca Cola came up to around $200,000. Shortly after, Mayor Jackson set the rewards money for $100,000. Initially, the reward money did not make things move faster but after a hefty donation of $400,000 from Muhammad Ali the reward was raised to half a million. According to various news sources from that time, Ali was quoted saying that the seemingly large reward “won’t even buy a Rolls-Royce.”
Police eventually convicted someone of the Atlanta child murders; this sparked even more controversy. Police arrested Wayne Williams, a well known young black man, who some thought was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Williams is still in prison today.
No one ever came forward to offer useful information, so no one was ever rewarded with the $500,000. Today that amount of money would be worth $1,428,296.64. Interestingly enough, the creators of the Atlanta Monster, an investigative podcast specifically about the Atlanta child murders, tried to find out what happened to the reward money. After asking multiple city officials, it seemed like the money had completely vanished without a trace. Still, to this day no one has discovered where the money went, not even Mayor Jackson’s own family.
Emmanuel Johnson is a senior sociology major with a minor in Journalism at Morehouse college. He is a rising radio journalist who has had his work aired on NPR stations in North Carolina and Georgia.
