Officer assigned to man Atlanta child murders tip line

ATLANTA — On Monday, Atlanta police dedicated an officer to man a new phone line. The line was formed Saturday to take tips in the decades-old, unsolved Atlanta Child Murders case.

“Every single tip or every single piece of information is going to evaluated by an investigator,” said Atlanta Police Department spokesman Carlos Campos.

Campos said an officer will actually man the line 20 hours a day, Monday through Friday. When the officer is not working, information from voicemail messages will also be written on a form that is sent straight to an investigator.

While Crime Stoppers has been an effective tip line for decades, Campos said he can’t remember when the department has dedicated a line to a single case. The need became apparent after renewed interest was sparked last week.

During a press conference, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Police Chief Erika Shields announced the reopening of the case, with the help of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

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The victims’ stories gripped the city 40 years ago, when no one was held responsible for at least 25 missing and murdered black children.

From there, Campos said, calls about the cases began coming into the mayor’s and chief’s offices and the main APD line. The department said it doesn’t know what the tip line will draw, but it wants to hear it all as long as evidence is being re-evaluated.

“Cases like these tend to attract conspiracy theorists and people kind of all over the map and all the way to people who actually experienced something real and didn’t come forward,” he said. "Maybe they were scared or a child.”

As far as the personnel working the cases, Campos said they’re dedicated to the infamous case.

“For an investigator, this is what they live for,” Campos said. “This is why they come to work every single day.”

If you have any information about the Atlanta Child Murders, call the tip line at 404-546-2603.

Cox Media Group