Eric Middlebrooks was 14 and living with foster parents in Atlanta when he left the house on the evening of May 18, 1980, saying he was going to fix his bicycle and taking a hammer. He hurried out after answering a phone call and did not return. The next morning his body was found behind a bar; his bicycle was nearby. An autopsy reported blunt force trauma to the head, slight stab wounds to the chest and arms, and pockets turned inside out.

Investigators noted that Eric had testified in a robbery case against three other juveniles a few weeks before his death. His killing was later treated as part of the Atlanta Child Murders. Fiber evidence recovered from Eric’s body was cited at trial as linking Wayne Williams to the pattern of killings, though Williams was convicted in 1982 only for two adult victims. Law enforcement later attributed several child victims, including Eric, to Williams, but some of those attributions were considered weak.

Did anyone in Atlanta at the time have information about Eric’s movements that night or about the phone call he answered?