Ten-year-old Earl Terrell disappeared from South Bend Park swimming pool on July 30, 1980, after being asked to leave following a minor scuffle. A caller to his aunt’s home in the early hours of July 31 demanded a $200 ransom, claiming Earl was in Alabama and promising to call back; no further contact came.

On January 9, 1981, a dog led a resident to skeletal remains in woods off Redwine Road. Dental comparison later confirmed one set of remains as Earl’s; the other belonged to Christopher Richardson. Because of advanced decomposition, an official cause of Earl’s death could not be determined. Investigators recovered items at the scene, including magazines with fingerprints, but the person those prints matched was not considered a strong suspect.

Earl’s case was folded into the larger series of child killings in Atlanta from 1979 to 1981. Wayne Williams was convicted in 1982 for two adult victims, and authorities attributed many child deaths to him, but he was never charged in Earl’s killing and Earl’s case remains officially unsolved. If anyone knew Earl, his movements that day, or has information about the Redwine Road site, please come forward.