While touting itself as a mecca for progressive expansion, early 1980s Atlanta has a dark secret. Over two years, at least twenty-nine black children, teens, and young adults have been systematically abducted and murdered from low income neighborhoods. As the mothers of the victims beg law enforcement to take action, the investigation languishes while the country looks on. Suspects include the KKK, the police and known pedophiles. The nightmare is seemingly over when Wayne Williams, a young black man, is arrested and the majority of the crimes are attributed to him. But was he simply a scapegoat? In this 3-part special we explore the case from those closest to it while highlighting the enduring questions surrounding this tragic chapter in Atlanta’s history.

The First 48 follows detectives from around the country during these first critical hours as they race against time to find the suspect. Gritty and fast-paced, it takes viewers behind the scenes of real-life investigations with unprecedented access to crime scenes, autopsies, forensic processing, and interrogations.

Brought together at their childhood home over their dying mother, an estranged family is thrust into a deadly fight for their own survival.