A Personal Reflection on ‘Mindhunter’ and the Atlanta Child Murders

Last updated on: September 9, 2019 at 1:26 pm by DeWayne Hamby

A Personal Reflection on ‘Mindhunter’ and the Atlanta Child Murders 2019-09-09T13:26:12-04:00 DeWayne Hamby

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Since releasing on August 16, the second season of Netflix’s “Mindhunter” has captured the attention of viewers around the world, and in my own house. While I’ve been working on other projects, my wife binged the first season and then kept going. As she made her way through the second season, my ears perked up. The story shifted to the real Atlanta Child Murders of 1979-1981. I was a child living in the area when they occurred, so we were all heartbroken by the crimes. But I had a more direct connection . . .

Jonathan Groff, Oliver Cooper, Holt McCallany from Mindhunters. Image courtesy of Netflix.

As children, our inquisitive minds yearned to discover more and more about the world we were born into. We crawled, we walked and then we ran. And our parents tried to keep up. We walked through forests and imagined them to be other planets. We crossed creeks, thinking them to be oceans. And like sponges, our minds soaked in every new experience.

Many memories have faded over the years, sometimes causing me to doubt their very existence. Did I dream up that event? Did it really happen the way I remember? I question myself and the memories that I’ve protected. But I do remember Yusef.

When I was four, Yusef Bell was my friend, at least for a little while. We both lived in an apartment complex on South Cobb Drive near the now-demolished Cobb Center Mall. My family’s time there was blink-and-you-miss-it, not helped by the many miles traveled since. Yusef and I ran around the neighborhood, discovered undeveloped adjacent property and played together on the playground.

One of the only pictures from my time at the apartment building where Yusuf and I played together.

My strongest memory of Yusef is racing him to my family’s apartment. When I arrived, I darted inside and locked the door. Within seconds, he was pounding on it, yelling, then ringing the bell. I tried to override the commotion by telling my mother to ignore the sounds coming from outside. He was going to tell on me. In a boyhood test of friendship, I had pushed him off the slide.

That event was perhaps one of the first memories I have of wronging someone. It could have been all in good fun or it could have had a vengeful side to it (at one point, he stole my lunch). But to this day, I remember the sheer terror of my mom discovering what I’d done and the guilt I felt by being unkind to a friend.

I can’t remember if we did but I hope we made up and became friends again. We moved back out of the apartments so quickly I don’t know for sure. What I do know is that he was a kid just like me, with a spirit of adventure and eyes ready to see the world. And while I went on to live a life filled with incredible memories discovering this beautiful world, the tragedy is that Yusef did not.

A few years after my family and his family moved from those apartments, Yusef was murdered. At nine-years-old, he’d gone to the store to buy something for a neighbor and was later found strangled to death and left at an abandoned school. His murderer was convicted first of killing two other young boys and later was regarded by police to have killed a total of 28. The crimes were committed over several years in the late seventies and early eighties and were known as the “Atlanta Child Murders.”

Previous Post

September 8, 2019

From the Archives: Sinead O'Connor's Gospel Project, 'Theology'

Next Post

September 9, 2019 Kanye West Brings Sunday Service to Charles Jenkins' Church

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Comics Movies Music Plays and Musicals Podcasts Television Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 September 2015 July 2015 March 2015 November 2014 September 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 May 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 February 2012 December 2011 November 2011 August 2011 July 2011 March 2011 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 April 2006 February 2006 December 2005 October 2005 September 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 February 2005

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did God confuse to stop the Tower of Babel from being finished?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The weather Their tools The bricks The people’s language