‘Mindhunter’ Season 2: The Other Serial Killer the Series Did Not Explore Connected the Atlanta Murders
Netflix’s Mindhunter explored the inner working of real-life serial killers and their minds. But as the series progressed into its second season, Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) get involved in a series of kidnappings and murders of young black boys in Atlanta. While Mindhunter Season 2 ended with the supposed perpetrator of the crimes, there was a loose end of another serial killer connected to the Atlanta murders.
Holden learns there is more to the Atlanta murders in ‘Mindhunter’ Season 2
While in Atlanta, Holden is coerced into listening to a series of kidnappings of young black boys in the neighborhood. While many are missing persons, many of them have ended up murdered. He learns from one of the detectives who used to be in charge that they could not find a link between the victims.
The Behavioral Science Unit soon takes up the case as Holden suspects the perp is a black male. As the investigation progresses, they find their suspect, Wayne Williams. By all accounts, he appears to be the Atlanta killer, but something more is at play. There is suspicion that Williams did not commit all the kidnappings and murders. In Mindhunter Season 2, during the Atlanta murders investigation, Holden got testimonies that a few victims visited “the house on Lakewood.”
A prior investigation revealed the house was raided, and police found hundreds of photos of children. The perp was a white male. Jim Barney (Albert Jones) asked an officer to look for red flags in three years of conviction cases. He discovered a series of complaints about an older black male who would give children drugs, and they would spend the night. Jim remembered when Holden met a young boy at the mall who talked about “the house next to Fulton county stadium,” where children would also go for pictures.
Jim found no connection between Lakewood, the old white guy, and Fulton. But the officer who gathered the intel was on duty during the Lakewood case. He revealed over 600 polaroids were found, and many were black children. But the evidence log has fewer recorded numbers, and all the photos were of white children. Mindhunter Season 2 left an unexplored cliffhanger of another possible serial killer in the Atlanta murders.
‘Mindhunter’ Season 2’s undisclosed Atlanta serial killer is based on a real person
There are many loose ends in the Mindhunter Season 2 finale. The Atlanta Murder case can take up an entire season alone as it has multiple lines of inquiry. Fans may remember that many officers believed the Ku Klux Klan was involved in the kidnappings and murders. The Atlanta Monster podcast explored it as a possible scenario.
But they revealed the white male of the Lakewood house is real. His name was Thomas, “uncle tom” Terrell. Many victims lived near his home, or their last known whereabouts were in the area. The podcast does not focus on Terrell or his supposedly known associates, Jerry Thornton and Larry Marshall.
Mindhunter Season 2 has Williams as the main serial killer of the Atlanta murders. But even Holden realizes many of the victims knew each other, but some had different death patterns. Despite the kidnappings and murders having stopped after Williams’s arrest, it might have spooked his cohorts.
Detailed information about what happened in real life with Atlanta murders is scarce. Terrell was speculated to have been one of the perps in what was believed to be a pedophile sex ring. The series brought up the possibility that authorities knew of them and hid the polaroids from the Lakewood house. The Atlanta murders possibly have more than one serial killer.
Will there be a ‘Mindhunter’ Season 3?
Mindhunter Season 2 aired its last episode in August 2019, with the loose thread of the Atlanta murders at the finale. Based on how the series ended, fans speculated Netflix would renew it for a third season. But years passed, and fans still waited. Creator David Fincher addressed multiple times that Mindhunter was on indefinite hold. The reasoning was due to his hectic schedule.
According to IGN, Fincher gave a final statement cementing that Mindhunter Season 3 would not happen. Despite the series’ now developed a dedicated fan base, it was not enough.”I’m very proud of the first two seasons. But it’s a very expensive show and, in the eyes of Netflix, we didn’t attract enough of an audience to justify such an investment [for Season 3],” said Fincher.
Fans of the crime thriller series will forever be left with a looming thought of what was to come next. The Mindhunter Season 2 finale ended with Bill’s wife and son leaving him after the ordeal of the murder case. Jim is also pushing to investigate what else happened during the Atlanta murders.
