More than 20 years after a little boy’s body was found near a Decatur cemetery, the persistence of a woman who once cared for him finally unlocked the mystery around his death.
The child’s remains were found Feb. 26, 1999, in a wooded area near the corner of Clifton Springs and Clifton Spring Church roads, DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston said during a news conference Wednesday. Police could only learn limited information from the unrecognizable body because it had been in place for several months before a cemetery worker discovered it.
The child has now been identified as 6-year-old William DaShawn Hamilton, Boston said, and his mother has been arrested.
Teresa Ann Bailey Black, 45, was taken into custody June 29 in Phoenix, Arizona, where she now lives. She is awaiting extradition to Georgia on several charges out of DeKalb, including two counts of felony murder, two counts of cruelty to children and one count each of aggravated assault and concealing the death of another.
Credit: Henri Hollis
Credit: Henri Hollis
Officials said multiple developments in recent years led to the break in the case, including advances in forensic technology and renewed media attention.
But the missing puzzle piece was provided by a woman named Ava, a former friend of Hamilton’s mother who bonded with the boy when she looked after him in his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina. Over the course of two decades, Ava never gave up her search for the missing boy.
Credit: AJC Print Archives
Credit: AJC Print Archives
“For far too long, this precious little boy had no name and no story,” Boston said. “Through the tireless efforts of several individuals and organizations who were determined not to let this boy be forgotten, William has been identified and justice will be served in his memory.”
One of those individuals is Angeline Hartmann, a former TV reporter who covered the discovery of the body in 1999. Now the director of communications for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, she spent multiple hours dissecting the case on its 20th anniversary on her podcast, Inside Crime.
Shortly after the release of Hartmann’s podcast in early 2019, NCMEC shared a new facial reconstruction depicting the 6-year-old. The image and the podcast helped direct attention to the case, and in May 2020, Ava recognized Hamilton in the rendering and contacted NCMEC, Boston said.
Credit: National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Credit: National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Investigators were able to link Hamilton’s mother to the child’s killing through DNA evidence after collecting a sample from Black earlier this year, Boston said. She did not provide further details about what other evidence led authorities to charge Black with murder.
Hamilton’s cause of death could not be determined when his body was found, and officials have not released further details about his killing.
Ava told NCMEC she had been searching for the boy since he disappeared.
“This case is a perfect example of why we never give up hope,” Hartmann said. “For more than two decades, a woman in Charlotte who knew William and his mother followed her gut feeling that something wasn’t right and kept looking for him.”
“When I saw the picture, I just screamed,” Ava said in a video released by NCMEC. “The tears just started, because I knew it was him. There was no doubt.”
In a video interview, Ava describes a close relationship with Hamilton.
“He was everything to me because I wasn’t a mother then,” she said. “I did a lot for him. I cooked for him, took him for his first bath, taught him how to tie his shoes.”
With Ava’s help, investigators have established a more detailed narrative of Hamilton’s killing. Ava also shared more details about her involvement in the case on a special episode of Hartmann’s podcast released shortly after the announcement of Hamilton’s identity.
In December 1998, Black pulled Hamilton out of school in Charlotte and moved him to Atlanta, according to the DA’s office. Black worked at a now-defunct strip club called Pleasers Gentleman’s Club on Cleveland Avenue, Boston said. Investigators believe she may have received assistance from the Atlanta Day Shelter for Women and Children during that period.
About three months after the move, Hamilton’s body was found near the church cemetery. Black returned to Charlotte months later and gave inconsistent explanations about her son’s whereabouts, Boston said. The discovery of the body and Hamilton’s disappearance were never connected at the time.
Ava told Hartmann she continuously searched for Hamilton over the ensuing 20 years. She discovered the widely publicized facial reconstruction in 2020 and called NCMEC to provide the boy’s name. The organization was able to confirm his identity through DNA technology.
“Justice has no time limit,” Boston said in the NCMEC video. “When my team got going on this case, it only took that one tip, that one thread, and once they started pulling it, they were like, ‘We got this.’”
Boston’s team is still building its case and is asking for more information from the public. Anyone who may have known or interacted with Black or Hamilton between December 1998 and February 1999 is asked to call the DeKalb DA Office’s cold case tip line at 404-371-2444. Callers may remain anonymous.
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