Serial killer may have slain 4 in S.W. Atlanta

By Bill Rankin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Police believe there is a strong likelihood that a serial killer murdered three men over the past 11 years in the Cativo Drive neighborhood of southwest Atlanta, a homicide detective said Thursday. Authorities also see a potential connection to a fourth victim.

"There is a person we're interested in," Atlanta police homicide Detective Vincent Velazquez said, declining to identify the potential suspect. "We do believe the person who did this is very familiar with that neighborhood and moves very comfortably in it."

The first victim was Alfred Glass, a self-employed contractor who was killed Aug. 7, 1998, as he worked in his garage. Glass, 56, was killed instantly by two gunshots while his wife, Sarah, and the couple's grandson watched TV inside the home, police said at the time.

Police have been able to connect two other subsequent murders -- those of Dennis McGuire in 2007 and Warren Williams Jr. in 2008 -- with the same gun, said Velazquez, who is assigned to the Fulton County District Attorney's Office cold case squad. There are such striking similarities with their murders and Glass' killing that police believe all three were committed by the same person, Velazquez said.

A fourth victim, Joseph Williamson, may also have been murdered by the same person in 2007, Velazquez said. "But we're still not quite sure," he said.

"When we found that the Williams and McGuire killings were committed with the same gun, that was the high moment," the detective said.

Robbery does not appear to be a motive in the slayings, Velazquez said. When Glass was killed, he was wearing some jewelry and had almost $320 in his pocket. But nothing was taken from him or from inside the garage, police said.