Another Body

And the profile of a murderer

Wanted: a man or woman about 40 years old, single or childless, with at least a high school education. A reliable employee who has frequent contact with children, perhaps even on the job, and lives in a lower middle-class racially mixed neighborhood. A loner, with few close friends and virtually no sense of humor. Extremely neat. Brought up in a broken home by an abusive mother. May believe it is an act of mercy to kill poor black children and thus remove them from a bad environment. May have expressed condolences to some of the victims' families; may even have attended a funeral or two.

Such is the summary description of the "gentle killer" who police believe may have committed at least six of the killings of Atlanta's black children in the past six months. The profile, published in the Atlanta Constitution last week and described as the work of FBI psychologists, caused a bit of a stir. According to FBI Spokesman John Glover, it was not released by the FBI and as published is inaccurate "as to details of the bureau's profile."

The profile did provide something of a focus for the formless dread, but it seemed to do nothing to help catch a killer. At week's end another body was found, this one floating in the South River in De Kalb County, bringing the death toll to 20 victims. The body was identified as that of Curtis Walker, 13, who had been missing since Feb. 19, when he failed to return home after looking for after-school work. Officials speculate that Walker's body may have been dropped into the river upstream from an overpass. Cause of death: asphyxiation.

Nationwide concern over the murders has brought offers of help and money. Mayor Maynard Jackson announced that the Southern Christian Leadership Conference would oversee distribution of private donations to victims' families. Yet Camille Bell, mother of one of the victims, argued that the contributions should be sent to the parents' own Committee to Stop Children's Murders. Said Bell: "I see organizations moving into prominence on the coffins of these children." Bell and S.C.L.C. officials later reached an agreement to involve parents in the S.C.L.C. fund.

That did not stop some enterprising fund raisers from mounting their own campaigns. Said State Assemblyman Tyrone Brooks: "There are people moving throughout our city, soliciting money, goods and clothing under the pretense that they are trying to help the families of the murdered and missing children. These people are very slick and swift."

But most of the efforts to help are genuine. A Brooklyn, N.Y., black newspaper, Big Red, is raising funds for the Atlanta police department. St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church in Cambridge, Mass., is urging members to pray and wear green ribbons, symbolizing life. The Rev. Willie Taplin Barrow, a Chicago mother and minister, helped organize a group of 200 women to travel to Atlanta to meet with parents "to find out how we can help." Says Barrow: "If everybody just prays, God can do anything."

The biggest boost for Atlanta came from President Reagan: he announced the allocation of nearly $1 million in federal aid. Most of the money is intended to be used to try to prevent any more murders --by setting up facilities for homeless teen-agers and after-school care for about 1,000 youths in the areas where most of the murders have occurred.

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