Voiceover: Lee Manuel Gooch was thought to be one of the missing and murdered children until it was discovered that he was in jail in Florida; Gooch allegedly stated in an interview that he, and one of his neighbors, knows the man that kidnapped one of the children; interview with an unidentified male Florida Law Enforcement Official. Footage: Gooch in an interview. Atlanta Missing and Murdered Children Story
UPI ARCHIVES FEB. 10, 1981
Runaway says he knows kidnapper: Is it Atlanta's killer?
By JAMES M. EVANS
ATLANTA -- A 15-year-old runaway, once considered a possible victim of Atlanta's black child killer, was brought home today to tell police about his story that 'a man in my neighborhood snatched some kids in December.'
Authorities picked up Lee Gooch late Monday night in Tallahassee, Fla., where he had spent nearly a month in jail, and immediately headed back to Atlanta.
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Gooch, who left his Atlanta home Jan. 5, had been jailed in Florida on various traffic charges under the name of Lee Kendell -- his mother's maiden name -- between Jan. 14 and last Saturday when he was released.
Atlanta officials, not aware he was in Florida, had considered adding him to the city's list of 17 missing and dead black children.
Monday, Gooch called the Leon County sheriff's office in Tallahassee to see if he could retrieve the car he was driving when arrested.
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When asked if he knew anything about the Atlanta children cases, Gooch said 'a man in my neighborhood snatched some kids in December. It's a kidnapping deal.'
He said he only knew that the man was black, but he added, 'There's a lady in the neighborhood who knows who he is, but she's scared to tell.'
None of the 17 youths included in Atlanta's string of missing and slain children disappeared in December, but a spokesman for the Atlanta Police Bureau said that Gooch's story would be investigated.
Gooch said the first known victim, Edward Hope Smith, 14, was 'a close friend,' but he said he knew none of the other children. Smith, who disappeared on July 20, 1979, was found shot to death eight days later.
Gooch told reporters he left Atlanta because of differences with his father and that was why he had used his mother's maiden name.
Meanwhile, several Atlanta City Council members joined relatives and friends of Lubie 'Chuck' Geter Monday at the funeral of the 14-year-old youth, whose body was found in a strip of woods in South Atlanta last Thursday.
Geter, who was strangled, was the 15th victim to be found in the string of missing and slain black children. Two remain missing.
