Due to the graphic nature of this episode, listener discretion is advised.

This episode contains discussion of murder and sexual assault

that some listeners may find disturbing.

Extreme caution is advised for listeners under 13.

In the early hours of May 22, 1981,

the sky was an inky black canvas,

and a fog of silence hung heavy over Atlanta.

But not everyone in the city was asleep.

Police recruit Robert Campbell sat in his car,

watching the James Jackson Parkway Bridge with sleepy eyes.

After a string of bodies had washed up in the Chattahooji River,

Campbell and his colleagues were stationed around the city,

staking out the city's bridges.

The task force had been surveilling the bridges for nearly a month,

but nothing had happened, and they were beginning to get restless.

In the somnolend hours before dawn,

Campbell had settled into a languid state when he heard something that jolted him awake,

a loud splash.

To Campbell, who'd worked as a lifeguard for years,

it sounded like a body hitting the water.

The recruit darted out of the car and ran to the water's edge.

He shone his flashlight into the vast expanse,

...