TALLAHASSEE, FL - In December 2000, a 31-year-old real estate appraiser vanished during a duck hunting trip on Lake Seminole, leaving behind his wife Denise and their young daughter.
Authorities initially suspected that Mike Williams had fallen from his boat, drowned and had been eaten by alligators, according to ABC News. However, in 2017, nearly 17 years after his disappearance, it was revealed that Mike Williams had not drowned. According to authorities, he was murdered and was a victim of a calculated plot between his wife Denise and his best friend, Brian Winchester.
On December 16, 2000, Mike's wife Denise called Brian's then-spouse Kathy Thomas in a panic. "Around noon, Denise calls me and she says, 'Do you know where Brian is? Do you know where Mike is?'" Thomas recalled when speaking with ABC News.
Later that afternoon, Brian appeared at his in-laws' home, telling Kathy he had gone hunting alone, Thomas said. Meanwhile, search teams found Mike's abandoned boat and truck in Lake Seminole. Since 1957, when the lake was established, there have been just over 100 people who have drowned in it. Of them, Mike's body was the only one to never been recovered, authorities said.
Cheryl Williams, Mike's mother, refused to accept that her son's body had been eaten by alligators, as police theorized. She stood on street corners with signs about her missing son, paper flyers along local roads, and placed newspaper ads begging for information about what happened.
What she along with many others did not know was that Brian and Denise were having a secret affair since 1997. Just six months before his disappearance, Mike had purchased a $1.75 million life insurance policy, sold to him by Brian.
The case finally broke open in 2016 when Brian, by then married to Denise, was arrested for kidnapping her at gunpoint as their marriage deteriorated. Brian made a deal with prosecutors. He would get immunity in Mike's death in exchange for revealing what really happened.
In his confession, Brian reportedly described pushing Mike from his boat and shooting him after he managed to swim to a stump and hold on. "He was panicking and I was panicking," Brian testified. "None of this was going like I thought it was gonna go."
Brian then told authorities where Mike's body was, which was at Carr Lake. His body remained that for nearly two decades. "We were Bonnie and Clyde," Brian testified about his relationship with Denise. "We were partners in crime." In December 2018, a jury found Denise guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and accessory after the fact.
She was sentenced to life in prison. An appeals court later overturned her murder conviction, but her conspiracy conviction stood. "Nobody's officially charged with his murder," Scott Dungey, Mike's best friend said. "That was the only way. They would never have got the body, and Denise would still be out running free."
Brian is serving a 20-year sentence for kidnapping Denise, while she serves a 30-year sentence for conspiracy in Mike's death. To this day, no one has been convicted of Mike's murder. "When I go to bed at night, and I try to go to sleep ... I see Michael clinging to that stump in the lake and I hear him calling, 'Help, help,'" Mike's mother Cheryl said after the verdict.
"Mr. & Mrs. Murder," a four-part ABC News Studios series is now streaming in its entirety on Hulu. Kathy Aldredge, one of Mike's close friends, helped crack the case and said she believes "there's still some missing pieces" out there that could explain what really happened, People reported.
Authorities initially suspected that Mike Williams had fallen from his boat, drowned and had been eaten by alligators, according to ABC News. However, in 2017, nearly 17 years after his disappearance, it was revealed that Mike Williams had not drowned. According to authorities, he was murdered and was a victim of a calculated plot between his wife Denise and his best friend, Brian Winchester.
On December 16, 2000, Mike's wife Denise called Brian's then-spouse Kathy Thomas in a panic. "Around noon, Denise calls me and she says, 'Do you know where Brian is? Do you know where Mike is?'" Thomas recalled when speaking with ABC News.
Later that afternoon, Brian appeared at his in-laws' home, telling Kathy he had gone hunting alone, Thomas said. Meanwhile, search teams found Mike's abandoned boat and truck in Lake Seminole. Since 1957, when the lake was established, there have been just over 100 people who have drowned in it. Of them, Mike's body was the only one to never been recovered, authorities said.
Cheryl Williams, Mike's mother, refused to accept that her son's body had been eaten by alligators, as police theorized. She stood on street corners with signs about her missing son, paper flyers along local roads, and placed newspaper ads begging for information about what happened.
What she along with many others did not know was that Brian and Denise were having a secret affair since 1997. Just six months before his disappearance, Mike had purchased a $1.75 million life insurance policy, sold to him by Brian.
The case finally broke open in 2016 when Brian, by then married to Denise, was arrested for kidnapping her at gunpoint as their marriage deteriorated. Brian made a deal with prosecutors. He would get immunity in Mike's death in exchange for revealing what really happened.
In his confession, Brian reportedly described pushing Mike from his boat and shooting him after he managed to swim to a stump and hold on. "He was panicking and I was panicking," Brian testified. "None of this was going like I thought it was gonna go."
Brian then told authorities where Mike's body was, which was at Carr Lake. His body remained that for nearly two decades. "We were Bonnie and Clyde," Brian testified about his relationship with Denise. "We were partners in crime." In December 2018, a jury found Denise guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and accessory after the fact.
She was sentenced to life in prison. An appeals court later overturned her murder conviction, but her conspiracy conviction stood. "Nobody's officially charged with his murder," Scott Dungey, Mike's best friend said. "That was the only way. They would never have got the body, and Denise would still be out running free."
Brian is serving a 20-year sentence for kidnapping Denise, while she serves a 30-year sentence for conspiracy in Mike's death. To this day, no one has been convicted of Mike's murder. "When I go to bed at night, and I try to go to sleep ... I see Michael clinging to that stump in the lake and I hear him calling, 'Help, help,'" Mike's mother Cheryl said after the verdict.
"Mr. & Mrs. Murder," a four-part ABC News Studios series is now streaming in its entirety on Hulu. Kathy Aldredge, one of Mike's close friends, helped crack the case and said she believes "there's still some missing pieces" out there that could explain what really happened, People reported.
For corrections or revisions, click here.
The opinions reflected in this article are not necessarily the opinions of LET
Comments