listen to camille bell. children were dying on the streets of atlanta in the daytime. among them, jefferey mathis, only 10. like yusef bell, he walked down the street on an errand to this gas station to buy cigarettes for his mother. she never saw him again. what we had here was a predator. and what he was looking for was somebody who was cut off from the herd. and if you don t realize you re in trouble until you re in trouble, then you have no way of getting out. it would be another year before jefferey mathis s body was found in the woods, miles from his home. his mother would join camille bell in forming a committee to confront the city s leaders. the reaction of the police was that we were overreacting and that there was no serial killer.
.and we inspected his brakes for free. -free is good. -free is very good. [ male announcer ] now get 50% off brake pads and shoes at meineke. in the spring of 1980, police were still reluctant to listen to camille bell. children were dying on the streets of atlanta in the daytime. among them, jefferey mathis, only 10. like yusef bell, he walked down the street on an errand to this gas station to buy cigarettes for his mother. she never saw him again.
three detectives drove him around the city and turned in to jefferey mathis neighborhood. as soon as we turned on to that street, everything stopped. a guy cutting the grass stopped. guys playing dominos on the porch stopped. i said, what s going on? everything stopped. they said, laughingly, that s because we have a honkie in the car. john glover, who took over as fbi chief in atlanta that summer, said that s why he and hazelwood decided the killer had to be black. the killer is someone who is invisible in the black community and who is invisible in the black community but another black person? malcolm harris was one of the first task force detectives. he knew it had to be someone who went unnoticed. we felt like it was somebody who could come in the neighborhood and get these children and not draw attention to themselves. the question of which race struck a raw nerve. it had been only a dozen years
what we had here was a predator. and what he was looking for was somebody who was cut off from the herd. and if you don t realize you re in trouble until you re in trouble, then you have no way of getting out. it would be another year before jefferey mathis s body was found in the woods, miles from his home. his mother would join camille bell in forming a committee to confront the city s leaders. the reaction of the police was that we were overreacting and that there was no serial killer. even though by now six black children were dead. four others were missing. perhaps we were like distraught parents that really needed everyone s sympathy, but nobody needed to do anything.
three detectives drove him around the city and turned into jefferey mathis s neighborhood. as soon as we turned onto that street, everything just stopped. a guy cutting the grass stopped. guys playing dominos on the porch stopped. i said, what s going on? everything stopped. he said laughingly, that s because we have a honky in the car. john glover, who took over as fbi chief in atlanta that summer, says that s why he and hazelwood decided the killer had to be black. the killer is someone who is invisible in the black community, and who is invisible in the black community but another black person? malcolm harris was one of the first task force detectives. he knew it had to be someone who went unnoticed. we felt like it was somebody who could come in the neighborhood and get these children and not draw attention