Real Crime Stories/Paranormal Hauntings

The Disappearance and Murder of Jerry Michael Williams

Jerry Michael Williams (born October 16, 1969) went missing on December 16, 2000, when it was said he left his home in Tallahassee, Florida, United States, to go duck hunting. After subsequent investigations, he was presumed to have drowned in Lake Seminole, a large reservoir straddling the Florida–Georgia state line; investigators later came to suspect he had been the victim of foul play, possibly at another location. His body was found in October 2017 near Tallahassee, and Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) officials confirmed Williams was a victim of homicide.

After Williams's boat was found abandoned on the lake, the initial theory was that he had fallen out of it after a collision. However, a lengthy and exhaustive search of the lake bed in the area failed to find his body: at that time, it was the only known occasion when no remains or body had been discovered after a drowning death in the lake. It was eventually concluded that his body had been eaten by alligators. After waders and a jacket containing Williams's hunting license were found in the lake six months later, he was declared legally dead, following a court petition by his widow, Denise. She went on to marry Brian Winchester, a mutual friend who had helped her take out a large life insurance policy on Williams shortly before his disappearance.

Some investigators felt aspects of the case were not consistent with the alligator theory. After years of pressure from Williams's mother, Cheryl, the case was reopened in 2004 by the FDLE. By then, officers had learned that alligators do not, in fact, eat during the winter months, as the water is too cold, and as such it was suspected that foul play might have occurred. But it did not produce any new evidence, as the potential crime scene had not been secured during the search for Williams.

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. The Investigation Discovery channel series Disappeared devoted an episode to the case. In 2016, Winchester was arrested on charges stemming from an incident where he allegedly kidnapped Denise, the missing man's widow, who was now divorcing him; he was sentenced to 20 years in prison on the day before the FDLE announced that Williams's body had been found. In May 2018, Denise Williams was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and accessory. She was found guilty in December, after Winchester testified to shooting Michael at Denise's behest when their original plan to stage a boating accident failed. In 2019 she was sentenced to life.

Background

Williams grew up in Bradfordville (north of Tallahassee), the son of a Greyhound bus driver and a day care provider who raised him and his older brother Nick in a double-wide trailer. Instead of building a house the family saved its money so both boys, who helped by working nights at supermarkets, could attend North Florida Christian High School. There Mike excelled, serving as student council president, playing football and being active in the Key Club. At the age of 15, he began duck hunting as a hobby, and also came to know fellow student Denise Merrell.

After North Florida Christian, he attended Florida State University, where he majored in political science and urban planning. Even before graduation, he was hired by Ketcham Appraisal Group as a property appraiser. He distinguished himself as "the hardest-working man I ever saw", according to the company's owner. After he married Merrell in 1994, he would often go home for dinner and return to work after she (and later, his daughter as well) went to bed, and he sometimes went in to work after going duck hunting in the morning. According to his mother, Mike was making $200,000 annually by the time of his disappearance. He and Denise had bought a home in a small upscale subdivision on the east side of the city.