In 1999, the remains of a little Black boy were found in the woods surrounding a cemetery in DeKalb County, Georgia. It wasn’t until 2022 that the police were able to identify the baby John Doe and were led to their prime suspect: his mother.
Authorities say a cemetery worker was interrupted in his preparations for a funeral when he came across the body of a young boy seemingly discarded in the wooded area on February 26, 1999. Investigators determined the boy had been placed there months prior. However, they didn’t note any signs of foul play.
At the time, DeKalb County’s assistant chief medical examiner, Dr. Gerald Gowitt, said the condition of the boy’s body “precluded facial identification and fingerprints,” implying there was no way to tell who the boy was, per 11Alive’s report. In a press conference, investigators attempted to construct a clay rendering of the boy’s face and offered a few details about him including his height and weight: four feet tall and 60 pounds.
Still, no one came forward to identify him and his case went cold.
Who’s Child Is This?
By 2020, after technology dramatically improved, The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children was able to render digital images of what the boy may have looked like, the report says.
Shortly after the release of the images, crime writer and podcaster Angeline Hartmann announced in a press conference that she received a tip from a woman named Eva who claimed she recognized the boy in the photo as the child who lived next door to her — or used to live next door. She identified him as 6-year-old William DaShawn Hamilton.
“William was going to grow up to be somebody,” Eva’s statement said per the report. “I so wanted him to be alive. I wanted William to know that I never stopped looking for him. I loved William.”
DeKalb District Attorney Sherry Boston then announced that the investigation into little William’s death had been reopened and revealed a slew of new details. Boston said that William was removed from his school in Charlotte, N.C. in December 1998 by his mother, 45-year-old Teresa Black, before the two relocated to Atlanta. Boston also learned that Black briefly worked at a club called Pleasers in the city and that she also may have been seeking help from the Atlanta Day Shelter for Women and Children.
The report says in 2022, Black was located in Phoenix, Ariz. where she was placed under arrest and extradited to Georgia to be indicted on charges of felony murder, cruelty to children, aggravated assault and concealing the death of another.
A Confession?
Prosecutors relentlessly accused Black of fatally striking her son on the head and giving him a fatal dose of substances containing diphenhydramine and acetaminophen.
However, in a recorded interview with investigators, Black said she thought her son was sick and gave him cold medicine but denied giving him too much. She also said she lived in DeKalb County but was turned away from the shelter because she couldn’t stay with her son. She then claimed she left her child with a woman at the shelter.
After a moment, Black broke down in tears and admitted she took her boy to the side of that cemetery and the both of them went to sleep. She said when she woke up, she realized he was dead and left him there where the police eventually found him.
However, she did not report him missing or dead before fleeing back to North Carolina.
Stark Revelations During Trial
Most of the witnesses who testified at Black’s trial in January 2024 said they believed she was concealing the death of her son or had a nagging feeling that something bad happened.
Ava McNeil, Black’s friend, testified that Black seemed detached from her son and claimed she did not bathe him regularly. She also found her sudden move to Atlanta as “odd.” She stated she suspected something was wrong after she never saw the boy again while seeing Black on multiple occasions.
William’s father, William Hamilton Sr., testified that he’d been paying child support even while the boy was deceased but didn’t even know it. Black’s ex-husband, Laquese Black, testified that he tried to see the boy who he believed was “living with family” in Atlanta, but claimed that Black set up a fake phone call with a man posing as her son.
The Verdict
After two days of deliberation, Black was acquitted of nearly all of her charges except concealing the death of another.
“The evidence was limited at best as far as physical evidence to support the charges that were brought upon Teresa Black by the state,” said one juror to FOX 5 Atlanta.
Other jurors expressed to reporters that they wished they could’ve done more, with some in tears in the deliberation room. Black faces anywhere between one and 10 years in prison.