But things took a horrifying turn - nine . Holly Leopardi , partner of Scott Williams, lights a candle for Scott's mother Denise Williams during a vigil for him on June 16, 2020 in. Denise requested protection orders, saying she feared for her life and her daughter's. He helped police recover Brian's body, and testified against his former lover Denise, who had for years escaped justice as a grieving widow. I think something is there. Denise distanced herself from Mike's family, cutting off communication between them and her daughter, according to those close to the Williamses. [4], After Denise Williams was arrested, the FDLE disclosed that they had received information on where the body was in early October 2017. [17] In retrospect, many officers agreed with her that the circumstances surrounding Michael Williams' apparent drowning four years before were unusual, and were strongly at odds with that conclusion: Investigators also learned that Williams didn't usually hunt alone. [27] The kidnapping that had led to his present imprisonment, he explained, was his reaction to fear that Denise would reveal the truth about what had happened to her first husband now that she and Brian were divorcing. The immunity deal followed a plea and sentencing agreement with prosecutors after Winchester kidnapped Denise in the final days of their marriage because he was afraid she would pin the murder on him alone. "I would say this is a suspicious missing person. Winchester later confessed to conspiring with Denise Williams to kill Mike and make it look like an accident, so they could be together and collect on his life insurance policies. However, there were no teeth marks or any other damage on the waders, none of the recovered items showed signs of having been in the water for anything like the period Williams had been missing, and there was no DNA evidence found to link the clothing to him. Denise met Mike back in North Florida Christian High School when they were both just teenagers. He made it look like Mike was the only one who was ever there. Rumors were circulating around Tallahassee that a grand jury had been hearing evidence and would soon hand down indictments. It would be very, very unusual to have the complete disappearance of a full-grown man. Deputies with the Jackson County Sheriff's Office were present but primarily worked in a support capacity. They were good friends with Brian Winchester and his wife. "[18] FDLE officials said in 2011 that Cox had not found anything requiring further investigation. There is no manual to tell a mother what to do when her child goes missing. [6], She believed her son might still be alive. She was outraged. Anslees condition is that she cant use any of the money or assets she received to help pay her mothers legal bills or other costs related to the murder case or any pending appeals. Her defense argued that the tape should not have been admitted as evidence since Winchester was not charged with anything despite his admission; the prosecution said it simply asked him to tell the truth about what happened. Denise Huxtable Kendall is a fictional character who appears on the American sitcom The Cosby Show (1984-1992), portrayed by actress Lisa Bonet.Denise also stars in the first season of its spin-off sitcom, A Different World (1987). Copyright 2023 Distractify. "[28] Assistant state attorney Jon Fuchs said this evasiveness, as well as Denise's dispassionate response when Winchester told her how he had killed Mike, demonstrated how cold-bloodedly she helped plan the crime that happened on her behalf. Denise Williams said her purpose is to serve incarcerated women and help them lead successful lives. The case broke open in 2016 when Denise Williams' then husbandBrian Winchesterwas arrested for kidnapping her. Efforts continued until the search was called off in early February. A chromosomal disorder "has caused a lot of developmental delays for her," explains Richards . People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. According to Distractify, the grown-up Anslee competed in Miss Florida USA, seeking to win the title of Miss USA. Brian had cracked and told them the truth, but, it was in exchange for complete immunity. On the anniversary of Williams's disappearance that year, the Winchesters made one of their few public statements on the case: "For seven years we have prayed and hoped to find out with certainty what happened to Mike," Brian said in an email to the Democrat, and "Nobody wants Mike found more than we do." The story behind this killing is bit convoluted. To this day, she is behind bars, and, as in Florida life means life, she will spend the rest of her days there. She had not answered his many phone calls, so he came up with his plan to wait in her car and hold her at gunpoint. He grew up in Bradfordville[6] (north of Tallahassee), the son of a Greyhound bus driver[3] and a day care provider who raised him and his older brother Nick in a double-wide trailer. After four days of testimony, the jury took eight hours to convict Denise of all the charges. This sentencing hearing came after the First District Court of Appeals decided in Nov. 2020 to overturn her murder conviction in the case. Anslee is said to have a strained connection with her grandmother, Cheryl, and her family following her mothers conviction and punishment. As part of that order, he was to provide an appraisal of the couple's house, due early in August 2016. [3] She followed the story through Denise's conviction, making a point of keeping the poster for the case on her cubicle wall. Before he went to it, he took a tan sheet, a different-colored plastic sheet, a spray bottle of bleach, and a tool from Denise's car. [10], Denise told Leon County Sheriff's Office investigators that, on August 5, the day when the appraisal had to be filed with the court, she left her home to drive to her job at Florida State University. But it did not produce any new evidence, as the potential crime scene had not been secured during the search for Williams. Denise Williams resentenced to 30 years in prison for conspiracy in husbands death. Denise Williams' murder indictment comes nearly 18 years after her husband Mike Williams vanished while duck hunting in December 2000. Williams's Bronco and the boat had been returned to his family and friends, the footsteps of the many volunteers and searchers all over the lakeshore had made it impossible to collect any evidence from that area, and the items later recovered from the lake had not been retained. While the diver who retrieved them reported that they were in an area of disturbed weeds with alligator excrement nearby, consistent with the original belief that Williams had drowned while wearing them, he allowed it was "anyone's guess" as to whether they had been later planted in that spot. In 1994, the couple tied the knot in a beautiful ceremony in front of their friends and family in Florida and started a life together in its capital state Tallahassee. The couple had plans to celebrate their sixth wedding anniversary that night in Apalachicola. Audio of Brian Winchester's interview with the FDLE was played in court. [12], Way argued in response that there was no physical evidence linking Denise to the crime and that it had been entirely Winchester's idea; he expressed incredulity that Winchester was not on trial despite having admitted to committing the crime himself. But instead, he managed to get to a tree stump, so Winchester fired a single shotgun blast to the face. During the search period, daytime temperatures averaged around 55F (13C), with overnight lows below freezing. [13] On the water, he never put his waders on until he had reached the point where he planned to get out and start hunting, following a common safety procedure in order to avoid the type of accident from which he was later believed to have died. It was noted that Denise Williams's court petition to have her husband declared legally dead mentioned only the Kansas City Life Insurance Company policies Winchester had sold him, omitting policies through other companies that Michael Williams had obtained through other sources. After it ended, and after her son was declared legally dead (proceedings she said in 2008 she would have contested had she been aware of them[15]), she was still not convinced that he had drowned in the lake, but her attempts to bring about a further investigation were unsuccessful. The one-hour special broadcast implicates the true criminal, Mikes high school sweetheart, and shows us who she really is. [27], After discreetly rekindling the relationship, the two began to consider killing Mike so they could marry, as Denise's family frowned on divorce for religious reasons. A year later, after Brian testified to shooting Mike at Denise's behest, she was found guilty of all charges. "Something sounds fishy on that deal," the representative said when the situation was described to him. "Further," the statement said, "it was the wishes of Jerry 'Mike' Williams'smother and brother that his heir be 'taken care of.'". It was sent to a state forensics laboratory for DNA testing: the results have not been reported. Following a court petition by Denise, Mike was declared legally dead. It was actually Mike Williams' mom, Cheryl, who appealed to the judge for a maximum sentence. Anslee Williams, Mike Williams' only daughter, was accessible to the media and gave interviews about her father's murder case. Anslees family has been ripped apart since her mother and stepfather were sentenced to life in prison for killing Mike in 2000. The accessory charge suggested that sometime between August 2014 and the day Winchester was sentenced, Denise had allegedly helped Winchester avoid prosecution or arrest for the crime. Brian and Denise got married after the murder but eventually separated. "Everyone knows the lake is full of alligators," said the FFWCC's David Arnette. Family members of murder victim Jerry "Mike" Williams repeated a startling allegation against his widow Denise Williams on Wednesday. [16] Denise Williams, who had avoided media attention during the search for her husband, accepted that her husband had died. Winchester is serving a20 year prison term. They found his 1994 Ford Bronco near a remote boat launch in Jackson County, on the Florida side. After subsequent investigations, he was presumed to have drowned in Lake Seminole, a large reservoir located in the southwest corner of Georgia along its border with Florida; investigators later came to suspect he had been the victim of foul play, possibly at another location. [15], The private search team that surmised the alligator theory had been hired near the end of the original search by Williams's mother, Cheryl. Wondering what happened to her and where she is now? The order of no restitutionwas approved and the fraud charges formally dropped at a Tuesday morning courthearing. She said: "I am a fighter, not a victim. Denise married husband Lincoln Townley in 2013 and was previously married to actor Tim Healy between from 1988 until 2012. The boat launch where his Bronco was found, which he would presumably have used to put his boat in the lake, was an undeveloped patch of mud. After investigators with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FFWCC) were called, a search began, but soon had to be called off after a storm blew in. She now attends Florida State University and she also competes in pageants. Cheryl Williams wrote letters daily to the governor, asking him to have the state reopen the investigation even though two later investigations were likewise unable to uncover any significant new information, alienating many of the law enforcement officials she had previously persuaded to reopen it. Facebook gives people the power. Williams was 5feet 10inches (1.78m) and 170 pounds (77kg). SOLE CARDOZO WIKI, BIOGRAPHY, AGE, FAMILY, CAREER, FACTS & MORE. (Featured Image Credit: Alicia Devine / Tallahassee Democrat via AP), #DeniseWilliams Judge formally sentences Williams to life in prison for the murder of her husband. 12K views, 80 likes, 87 loves, 652 comments, 27 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from WCTV.tv: LIVE: Denise Williams' sentencing hearing continues. I will honor Mikes memory by fulfilling my purpose.. He said later he never was and was merely trying to comfort her; FDLE said his involvement was limited to asking his superiors if the agency could help with the search; it did not see a need to formally investigate his role. She faces two to 30 years in prison for a conspiracy. She spoke in court, asking leniency for her mother, Denise, and insisted that it was her step-father, Brian, and not Denise who plotted the December 2000 murder of her father. Judge Kevin J. Carroll said Denise will get credit for time already served in prison. As for Williams' mom, Cheryl, she's understandably heartbroken that she will never get her son back, but it's all because of her efforts that the truth finally came to light. "With the wildlife around, I would guess that the alligators have dismembered and have stored the remains in a location that we would not be able to find," he wrote in a report. "[3], Doubts that Williams had drowned became much more serious when investigators learned that, in fact, alligators do not generally feed during the winter months due to the colder temperatures. However, the attorney did not think Winchester would be charged in the case as well. [11], The three-page indictment was released two days later. Meanwhile, Winchester is serving a 20-year prison sentence for kidnapping Williams-Winchester at gunpoint in 2016. However, Winchester didn't follow through with killing his ex-wife, Kathy. Mike married his high school sweetheart Denise in 1994 and welcomed a daughter with her five years later. Anslees life was flipped upside down when her father, Mike, vanished without a trace, and an inquiry revealed her mother guilty of her fathers death nearly seventeen years later. Denise Richards Shares Sweet Photo of Her Three 'Beautiful Girls' Captured on Her Wedding Day. At the age of 15, he began duck hunting as a hobby, and also came to know fellow student Denise Merrell. Brian, on the other hand, disobeyed the plan, and the two only managed to kill Mike. Denise Williams, 48, faced the second day of testimony Wednesday in her test for allegedly conspiring to kill her 31-year-old spouse, Mike Williams, who vanished in December 2000 on a duck hunting trip at Lake Seminole in Florida . Brian and Denises marriage was plagued with poison and physical assault, according to Anslee. The majority of the specifics of their lives, from their younger years through their time spent together as a college pair at Florida State, are interchangeable. [10] According to a friend of Winchester's later interviewed by police, he had been increasingly concerned that as a result of the divorce Denise would tell the police what she knew about "this guy who died 10 or 12 or 15 years ago". According to a friend who hunted with him frequently, including one week before his disappearance, Williams took safety very seriously, keeping his guns at work, away from his daughter, among other precautions. Almost Three Decades Since His Last Murder, Lorenzo Gilyard Maintains His Innocence. [2], Apart from the condition of the waders was the question of why Williams would have been wearing them when he supposedly fell out of the boat. The court upheld Williams . If she breaks the conditions of the agreement, the state could order her to pay $150,000 in damages. Update, February 7, 2019: Denise Williams was sentenced to life in prison for her husband's murder. That allowed her to claim Mike's insurance policies worth $1.75 million. The truth, though, was that Denise had been cheating on Mike with his best friend, Brian Winchester, since 1997. Early searchers had reported seeing many of them, and some of the officials were willing to accept the possibility. Want to get an all access pass to the latest tallahassee.com news, analysis, commentary, photos and video?Become a digital subscriber to support our investigative journalism. Read More:Bruce Cleland Murder: Where Are Rebecca Cleland, Alvaro Quezada and Jose Quezada Now? No amount of good deeds can bring my husband back Mike back, Denise said in court. [31], In January 2020, Denise Williams appealed her conviction and life sentence. He got Mikes body into his car, pushed the boat back into the lake, and drove 60 miles to Carr Lake to bury him in the mud. On the other hand, Denise and Mike were constantly sniping at each other, and she had a million and one explanations for why this would occur.. Before we get into the meat of uncovering whatever happened to Deniece Williams, we will take a short look at her life and career. Regina Krieger Murder: Where Are Gilberto Rodriguez and Cody Thompson Now? But it can be extended by three years under certain circumstances. Just before Mother's Day in 1999, Denise gave birth to the couple's daughter. [23], On October 18, the team of search dogs and officers finally found Mike Williams's remains in the piles of dirt stacked on plywood sheets. In a shocking twist of events, in 2018 (and on his daughter's 19th birthday), Mike Williams' wife, Denise Williams-Winchester, was arrested on charges of first-degree murder, fraud, conspiracy, and accessory after the fact. By 2006, its cold case investigators were no longer returning Cheryl Williams's phone calls. Williams has been married three times and has four sons. Also Read:Where Are Survivors Brandon Lafferty and Marty Thomas Now? [6] It was eventually concluded that his body had been eaten by alligators. According to him, it was not out of character for Mike to play the role of the protective elder brother. One of the policies, for $1 million, was written less than a year before he went missing by his best friend, Brian Winchester, who 17 years later confessed to killing Mike during the hunting trip after conspiring with Denise so they could be together. Normally, under Florida law, the statute of limitations on that crime is five years, meaning it would have expired in 2005. [3] His body was found in October 2017 near Tallahassee,[4] and Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) officials confirmed Williams was a victim of homicide.[5]. [3], If Williams had drowned after accidentally falling out of his boat, his body would be the only one of 80 known deaths in the lake never to have been found. However, their relationship didnt go as well as they had expected and they separated in 2012. Williams' death was ruled a homicide. [4] Brian opposed it initially and had to be ordered to comply. Denise was arrested for the murder of Jerry Michael Williams in May 2018 and was charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and accessory after the fact. In 1988, Mike and Denise graduated from high school alongside their classmates Brian Winchester and Kathy Aldridge, who would later become Brians wife. In December 2017, Brian was sentenced to 20 years in prison for Denises kidnapping, but the whole incident led to the focus to be on their relationship and their potential connection to Mikes sudden disappearance and death. Four pieces of Tallahassee real estate are included in the assets, including her parents home on Centennial Oaks Circle. During the hearing Thursday, Denise Williams' sister, daughter and friend testified asking for the minimum sentence of 21 months. She arranged for a memorial service for Mike to be held the day after the search ended. [3], Searchers focused on the 10 acres (4.0ha) of the lake surrounding the cove where Williams's truck was parked. According to a representative of the manufacturer, if the engine had been running when Williams allegedly fell out of the boat, as investigators had theorized, it should have stayed on, with the boat running in circles until its fuel was exhausted. [17], Starting on New Year's Day in 2012, Cheryl began writing one letter a day to Governor Rick Scott, asking him to either have another agency besides FDLE investigate or appoint a special prosecutor to do so. [24], Ethan Way, Denise's lawyer, said his client was innocent of all the charges. [20], In December 2017, Winchester was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the kidnapping, with credit for 502 days time served, to be followed by 15 years' probation. "Our job was extremely difficult, and we were simply unable to develop enough evidence to proceed with the investigation," Schlein said. She testified about her time in prison, including starting GED prep courses and participating in seminars for incarcerated women. Not knowing that just two years later, he'd be the one to crack. Some nights got as cold as 19F (7C);[16] a fire was built in a 55-gallon drum on the shore for searchers to stay warm. A year later, after Brian testified to shooting Mike at Denises behest,she was found guilty of all charges. [16], In those conditions, "it [i]s highly unlikely an alligator would have been active" said Matt Aresco, a local herpetologist authorities had consulted. [12], In February 2019, Denise was sentenced to life in prison. pic.twitter.com/90OBDmwlw2, Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) February 6, 2019. On Wednesday, she received a mandatory life sentence for the murder as well as an additional . This resulted in a pretty intense murder trial, where Winchester eventually spilled the beans about what really happened. Denise and Brian were having an affair, and they planned to murder each others husbands so that they could be together. [10], Brian told her that he was planning to kill himself with the gun. "Some things looked unusual right off the bat," said the FFWCC's Arnette, who had initially thought the situation was a typical case involving a missing hunter and a possible boating accident. Instead of building a house, the parents saved their money so both boys, who helped by working nights at supermarkets, could attend North Florida Christian High School. Photo of Williams circulated since his disappearance, Arrest and subsequent trial of Denise Williams, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, "First-degree conviction overturned 11/2020", "Court records: Fears over Mike Williams case drove 2016 kidnapping by Brian Winchester", "FDLE special agent: Mike Williams 'was murdered', "Portman: Mike Williams' disappearance continues to perplex", "Mother of missing man sends 240 letters to Scott and not a single reply", "Mystery on Lake Seminole: Mike Williams", "Man with ties to cold case in jail on unrelated charges", "Nice guy, hard worker, avid hunter, devoted dad", "Where is Mike Williams? After one such re-airing in 2015, she expressed the hope that "one day instead of a question, there will be an answer".[7]. Denises initial plan was that while she stays at home with her daughter, Brian was going to push Mike from the boat and into the lake to make his death look like a drowning accident when they go on a duck hunting trip together. "[8], In 2012, Denise and Brian Winchester separated, reportedly due to his sex addiction; she filed for divorce in 2015. [34], Near the end of that year, the Investigation Discovery cable channel series Disappeared devoted an episode to the case. [4], The next day, at a news conference, Mark Perez, the FDLE's special agent in charge, announced to assembled reporters that Williams's body had been found and it had been determined he was the victim of a homicide. He also married Denise and had a daughter. After Williams's boat was found abandoned on the lake, the initial theory was that he had fallen out of it after a collision. The corporation, on the other hand, reduced its accusations in exchange for Denises property being passed down to Anslee under certain circumstances. "[Brian]'s not going to let Denise run around alone with all that money," she told the New York Daily News.