Nathaniel Cater, a 27-year-old Black man, disappeared in Atlanta in May 1981 during a string of slayings that terrorized the city. Some witnesses placed him in the company of Wayne Williams shortly before he vanished. On May 24, 1981, Cater’s nude body was recovered from the Chattahoochee River; the cause of death was recorded as probable asphyxiation.

Police surveillance on a bridge over the river had picked up a splash on the night of May 22, and Williams was stopped on that same bridge hours later. In June 1981 Williams, then 23 and working as a freelance photographer and music promoter, was arrested and charged with the murders of Cater and Jimmy Ray Payne. At trial prosecutors relied heavily on circumstantial evidence, including fiber matches between material on Cater’s body and fibers from Williams’s home and car, plus witness testimony about Williams’s association with Cater.

On February 27, 1982, a jury convicted Williams of the two murders and he received two consecutive life sentences. Law enforcement has said they believe he was responsible for other killings from that era. Did anyone who knew Nathaniel Cater or saw him in Atlanta in May 1981 come forward with information?