A DeKalb County jury was told two stories Wednesday about the death of 6-year-old William DaShawn Hamilton, whose remains were discovered 25 years ago in a Decatur wooded area, as the murder trial against his mother got underway.
Teresa Ann Bailey Black drugged her son with cough syrup and hit him in the head before dumping his body near a church cemetery and starting a new life in Arizona, prosecutor Shannon E. Hodder told the jurors during her opening statements.
“It’s time to give this child justice,” Hodder said while urging the jurors to find Black guilty on two counts each of felony murder and cruelty to children as well as single counts of aggravated assault and concealing the death of another.
Murder or accident? Jury weighs boy’s death in DeKalb cold case
Public defender Samuel J. Welty said Black, 46, was homeless at the time and had gone to sleep with her son in a wooded area along Clifton Springs Road because it was quiet and safe. She woke to find William dead and panicked, ultimately deciding to walk away, Welty said.
“Teresa will tell you herself that she made a huge mistake by walking away,” Welty told the jurors. “She’ll tell you she’s not perfect. But she did not hurt William and the state cannot show you she did.”
Black was indicted in June 2022 following a decades-long effort to identify the badly decomposed body of a boy discovered in February 1999 by a gravedigger relieving himself in the woods.
Credit: Henri Hollis
Credit: Henri Hollis
William’s skeleton sat in the DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office for more than 20 years while investigators worked to find out who he was and how he died. The only potential clues were a fracture on the right side of his skull, beneath the eye socket, and the presence of cough syrup components in leg tissue.
The puzzle was solved when Black’s former friend from North Carolina, Ava McNeil, saw an artistic rendering of the unidentified child and recognized William, whom she had known while Black lived in Charlotte.
Though Black and William were supported in Charlotte by family and friends, Black took William with her to Atlanta for a “fresh start” at the beginning of December 1998, Hodder said. She said Black “was not very loving towards William,” who often appeared dirty and disheveled.
“His clothes smelled as if he wasn’t being bathed,” Hodder said. “Teresa took care of herself – she often had her hair and makeup done, her nails done. She had a good job. She had access to resources, but she never shared them with her son.”
McNeil witnessed Black punch William in the chest and call him a “punk” when he became upset that Black wouldn’t let him play outside, Hodder said. She said McNeil had also seen Black shove William into another room when he complained about food.
Welty said Black was a young single mother doing her best to support herself and her son. He said William was born two weeks after Black’s 15th birthday and that William’s father “didn’t really contribute financially.”
When Black was 18, her mother died, leaving Black without help to raise William, Welty said. He said Black lost her job in Charlotte when she was 21, prompting her decision to move to Atlanta to find work.
Black only had a few hundred dollars and soon became homeless in Atlanta, where she didn’t know anyone, Welty said. He said Black gave William medication when he became sick, “like any prudent parent would,” shortly before he died.
“It will be clear to you that William was not neglected,” Welty told the jurors. “He was not abused by his mother. She was doing her best with what she had. She did not kill her son. She did not cause the death of her son. She did not hit him in the face and cause that broken bone.”
Black has an 18-year-old daughter and a partner in Arizona, where she has kept a stable job for 12 years, Welty said. He said Black experienced “every parent’s worst nightmare” when she woke to find William dead beside her.
Hodder said Black lied to investigators when questioned about William, initially denying that she had a son and had spent time in Atlanta. Hodder said William’s father was surprised to learn that William was dead, having been prevented by Black from seeing his son.
“Teresa Black is responsible for her child’s death,” Hodder said. “William died what was very likely a slow and painful death and was left to rot in the woods until a random gravedigger happened to go relieve himself in the woods almost three months later.”
Several witnesses testified Wednesday, including McNeil. The trial is expected to continue Thursday.
