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- [00:00]
Narrator
Did you know you can opt out of winter with VRBO? Save up to $1,500 for booking a month long stay with thousands of sunny homes. Why subject yourself to the cold? Just filter your search by monthly stays and save up to $1,500. Book now@vrbo.com this episode contains descriptions of violence and sexual assault. Listener discretion is advised.
- [00:23]
Cheryl Williams
I worried about Michael all the time because I saw danger in everything. I thought it was possible that he'd had an accident. Anybody can have an accident. When I got to the lake, this voice comes to me just as clear as a bell. And it said, Mike is not in Lake Seminole. You have to find him and bring him home.
- [00:51]
So for the next 17 years, I spent my life trying to find my child.
- [01:01]
Narrator
There are 120,000 unsolved murders in America. Each one is a cold case. Only 1% are ever solved. This is one of those rare stories.
- [01:17]
It's cold in the Florida Panhandle when 31 year old Mike Williams leaves his Tallahassee home at 3am on December 16, 2000 to go duck hunting on Lake Seminole. Duck hunters know how to get out before the ducks start flying. So Mike gets an early start. He plans to be back that afternoon. It's his wedding anniversary the following day and he and his wife Denise intend to spend the weekend in Apalachicola, Florida with their 18 month old baby girl. When Mike doesn't come home, his wife begins to worry and she starts calling her family and friends for help. Mike's mother Cheryl remembers finding out that her son was missing.
- [01:57]
Cheryl Williams
I went for a walk and when I got back that afternoon, my older son Nick was crying and he said, mom, Denise called and they can't find Mike. And I said what do you mean they can't find Mike?
- [02:16]
And Denise told us that she called her daddy and her daddy called a friend of theirs and they drove out to Lake Seminole to see if they could find Mike. And all they could find was his truck.
- [02:34]
Narrator
Jerry Michael Williams, who preferred to go by Mike, was born in October 1969 in Bradfordville, Florida. Mike and his older brother Nick were raised by their hard working parents, Cheryl and Jerry. And it was clear that Mike was was a go getter from a young age.
- [02:50]
Cheryl Williams
Mike was the kind of child that was always in a hurry. He never walked, he ran. My husband Jerry was a Greyhound bus driver. I had home daycare so that I could be at home with Michael and Nick. Jerry and I were not millionaires by any means, but you know, we were comfortable. I wanted them to get a good education. So we sacrificed and sent them to private school. Michael was involved in anything that he could be involved in. Sports was his big thing, and he was the class president. Michael was a good, honest person. He always worked for everything he got.
- [03:41]
Narrator
Mike met his future wife, Denise Merrill, on the first day of the ninth grade. He was instantly smitten, and he made no secret about it. His childhood friend Denise Brogden recalled the first time that Mike told her about his first love.
- [03:57]
Cheryl Williams
I remember the day he sat on my bed and told me about Denise Merrill.
- [04:02]
Narrator
Oh, my gosh, he was so excited.
- [04:05]
Cheryl Williams
There was an aura about this couple, and I think it's kind of like out of the movies where the football player is with the cheerleader.
- [04:14]
Narrator
Mike's family knew that their love was something special.
- [04:17]
Cheryl Williams
I think it was love at first sight. She told me that I knew when I met Michael that I was going to marry him.
- [04:25]
She loved Michael.
- [04:27]
Narrator
After graduating as student body president and star football player from Florida Christian High School, Mike attended Florida State University and earned a degree in political science and city planning. Mike and Denise stuck together while he was studying at FSU and became a real estate appraiser. Denise studied accounting. They were an ambitious couple, perfectly matched in their drive to be the best that they could be. Mike and Denise got married on December 17, 1994, and like many of their friends and classmates, they stayed in Tallahassee. On May 8, 1999, the couple had their first child, a beautiful little girl they named Ansley. Mike's mother, Cheryl, said that his heart went straight to his daughter and he was the best father in the world. Mike worked hard to ensure his family had everything they could possibly need. His employer, Clay Ketchum, said that Mike often worked extra hours and anytime he was not in the office he spent with his wife and his baby girl. Denise stayed home to look after Ansley, and life seemed perfect. When Mike wasn't at home with them or at work, he loved to go hunting. And no matter what, he always let his wife know where he would be going.
- [05:45]
Mike's family and friends are already at Lake Seminole looking for him when the police and the Fish and Wildlife conservation officers arrive. It's late afternoon and the small search party spread out around the lake in search of Mike's truck with no immediate indication of foul play. Mike. The investigation is led by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation officers with search support from the Jackson County Sheriff's Department. Lake Seminole stretches across 30,000 acres, but they quickly find Mike's truck and trailer parked next to the water in an area he doesn't usually park in.
- [06:19]
Searchers on boats traverse the lake from the point Mike was believed to have launched the boat. While Mike's friends check through his truck and trailer, Mike's boots or hunting gear are not in his truck, so the officers assume that he was wearing them when he went out on his boat. This worries the searchers. The heavy rubber boots attached to his chest high waterproof material Kept his lower half dry. But it was dangerous to go into deep waters while wearing them, as the weight could quickly pull a person under. Lake seminole has an abundance of vegetation and plant matter beneath the surface. It seemed possible that the boat could have hit a tree stump, Throwing him overboard. If he went into the water, he may have gotten tangled up in the vegetation. As fish and wildlife conservation officer Alton Renau was part of the initial investigation, he knows how dangerous waders could be.
- [07:16]
FWC Officer (Alton Renau or William David Arnett)
When someone falls into water with the waders on, the pressure of the water pulls and sucks to your skin, and it's extremely tough, Almost impossible to get those waders off. It would pretty much take you to the bottom.
- [07:31]
Narrator
Mike's loved ones watch anxiously as the search goes on. Among them is Mike's longtime best friend, Brian Winchester, who was one of the first ones to arrive on the scene. Just as he had met his wife, Mike met Brian on the first day of ninth grade at north Florida christian school. They quickly became inseparable, Sharing hobbies, Especially hunting. They traveled all over the country hunting, and when Mike went missing, Brian was concerned. Mike's employer and friend, Clay ketchum, Spoke to Brian that day during the search.
- [08:06]
Clay Ketchum
He said to me numerous times, I can't be here when they find Mike's body. And I said, I understand. I don't want to be here either.
- [08:15]
Narrator
As daylight begins to fade over lake Seminole, the the investigators are puzzled by the scenario they face. Hours pass without any sign of Mike's boat. Even with a helicopter surveying the surface, they fail to find it. Brian heads out on the water with his father to assist in the search. And nine hours after the search began, they find Mike's boat close to the launch site, which was not the concrete boat ramp he usually used, but instead a swampy area along the shore. Mike is not on board, But FWC officer William David Arnett finds Mike's shotgun still in a case, along with his life jacket and the decoys used for hunting. Other signs indicate that Mike had not been in the middle of a hunt when he vanished.
- [09:03]
Clay Ketchum
There was no mud in the boat. There was no telltale Signs of a hunter, you know, I mean, you get wet and you get muddy and you get stuff in the boat. None of that was apparent. We all just looked at each other like, what? This is making no sense at all. I just had a feeling Mike was gone. He was gone from the earth.
- [09:26]
Narrator
As investigators take a closer look at the empty boat, the evidence becomes even more perplexing. FWC officer William David Arnett said, the.
- [09:36]
FWC Officer (Alton Renau or William David Arnett)
First thing that I did when I got to the vessel, I took that gas cap off and the gas was all the way to the top. And I thought in my mind, the motor didn't run long, and if it had hit a stump, there should have been some bark on the propeller, but it was clean.
- [09:57]
Narrator
The boat would have run out of gas if it had been running when Mike fell out. But the engine was off and the boat was along the west side of the lake. After the search enters its second day, aerial searches are conducted alongside the efforts of those on board search boats. Using ropes tied between partially submerged tree stumps. Grid searches are conducted with the aid of long PVC pipes to feel around the bottom of a lake. But there is no trace of Mike Williams. Although the lake is around 4 to 5ft deep in most parts, there are sections where the lake reaches depths of 12ft, and anything 2ft below the surface is concealed by thick layers of weeds and vegetation. Days pass, and the emotional toll on Mike's wife is becoming too much to bear. Clay Ketchum remembers how distraught Denise was.
- [10:49]
Clay Ketchum
Denise didn't want to be out there, and so we went over to see Denise. She came down the stairs and literally collapsed into my arms. She was emotionally distressed, Sobbing. We were trying to be optimistic at that point in time, saying, well, you know, we're going to find him. And she was going, yeah, we're going to find him.
- [11:11]
Narrator
Mike's employer continues to write residual checks to support his family, and his co workers look forward to seeing Denise and Mike's baby girl come to the office to collect the checks. Even when he was not there, his employers knew how important it was for him, that his family was well taken care of. Desperately searching for her son, Cheryl returns to the lake on Christmas Eve, eight days after he vanished.
- [11:37]
Cheryl Williams
When I got to the lake, this voice comes to me just as clear as a bell, and it said, mike is not in Lake Seminole. You have to find him and bring him home.
- [11:51]
Narrator
She believes that her son was alive somewhere. As the search enters its 10th day, FWC officer Alton Renew spots something floating on the east side of the lake. When they pull up alongside it. They notice that it's a hat bobbing on the water. Mike's best friend, Brian Winchester, who has been participating in some of the searches, recognizes the hat immediately. Brian even had a photograph of him and Mike, and Mike was wearing that hat. With just a piece of clothing recovered, investigators start to consider the possibility that Mike could have fallen prey to something lurking in the water.
- [12:30]
Cheryl Williams
Cheryl said, I was always afraid that an alligator would get him, and he would tell me. Alligators sleep when the water's cold, and we only hunt ducks when the weather is cold.
- [12:46]
Narrator
Dozens of alligators live in Lake Seminole, and as the searchers crossed the lake, they saw the creatures in the murky water. But their behavior in cold weather makes it seem unlikely that Mike's body had been taken by one. Alligators usually enter something similar to hibernation in the winter. Their metabolism slows down, meaning that they have to feed less often. So the alligator theory doesn't seem very likely. But with no sign of Mike in the water and no evidence of what could have happened, the search begins to slow down. Investigators have searched from dusk until dawn for over a month, and most people believe that Mike Williams has been the victim of a tragic accident. When the search is called off after 44 days, Denise seems to have accepted that her husband is dead. She plans a memorial service for the next day. Mike's mother, Cheryl, remembers feeling conflicted.
- [13:45]
Cheryl Williams
Denise's father came to me and Nick and said, denise wants to have a funeral service for Mike. And we told him, we don't know that he's dead. We don't have his body. He said, well, Denise needs to get on with her life.
- [14:01]
So we're going to have a service anyway, a memorial service with Denise. I went.
- [14:08]
Narrator
All of.
- [14:09]
Cheryl Williams
Just about all of my family went. All of Michael's friends came. Brian was at the service. Denise was very upset. I tried to be there for her and for the baby.
- [14:26]
Todd Garner
Is the movie business in peril? We've all heard that before. I'm veteran producer Todd Garner, host of the Producer's Guide podcast. Some of my credits include Con air, Anger Management, xxx 13, going on 30 and the mortal Kombat franchise. I'm here to address the biggest burning questions facing Hollywood today. Is the next big strike on the horizon? Will studio consolidation affect industry jobs?
- [14:46]
Brian Winchester
Are.
- [14:46]
Todd Garner
Are we getting closer to AI generated features? Is there a real difference between movies and content anymore? Some of my past guests include Adam Sandler, Rebel Wilson, Jeff Probst, Eli Roth, Ed Helms, and Kevin James. Join me on the front lines every Thursday. Get new audio or video episodes of the Producer's Guide wherever you get your podcasts.
- [15:09]
Narrator
As the months pass and the seasons change, the summer brings new discoveries. In early June 2001, a pair of waders are found floating in Lake Seminole. The waiters show no sign of alligator bite marks, but they are folded down to the waistband and only surfaced because the heat had caused air bubbles to form in the pockets. Mike's name is still legible on the tag. Two days later, Mike's hunting license is found in the pocket of a jacket recovered from the lake. The jacket seems as though it had been taken off in a hurry. One of the sleeves was inside out. But the license was in surprisingly good condition considering it would have been in the water for six months. Some people believe that the scene was staged and that Mike had been under too much pressure at home and at work and had just left it all behind by disappearing. But those who know him don't believe that version of events. For a moment, I knew he would.
- [16:10]
Cheryl Williams
Have never done that. To run off and start a new life and get a new identity.
- [16:15]
Narrator
He adored his daughter and he adored his mom.
- [16:17]
Clay Ketchum
The way he left his office, we knew that he was planning on coming back Monday.
- [16:22]
Narrator
Everything seems to point towards Mike drowning in the cold December waters. Despite the lack of a body, a A judge legally declares Mike dead in June 2001 and the missing person case is closed. The outcome doesn't feel like closure to Mike's mother, Cheryl, especially given the new evidence that surfaced over the summer.
- [16:43]
Cheryl Williams
I learned about the death certificate from Brian Winchester. Brian stopped me in his truck and he said, well, I guess you're surprised that they declared Michael dead so quickly. And I looked at him and I said, well, no, Brian, not with the way that evidence just popped up out of the clear blue. And he said, what do you mean, Ms. Williams? That was a gift from God. I said, brian, I've had gifts from God. That was not. I said, I think those waiters were planted.
- [17:20]
Narrator
Without a body and a cause of death, those who had been involved in the search operation wonder if Mike's body was even in the lake. FWC officers Alton Renew and William David.
- [17:32]
FWC Officer (Alton Renau or William David Arnett)
Arnett said, we never found the body. I've never had to search for a body that we didn't find. If they were in the water, we would find them. When we found the waders floating, it's not what we would expect it to see on waders. After six months, we visually searched the waders inside and out for any indication of deteriorating body parts in the waders. Any markings where an alligator had bitten them. Secondly, they would have had thick layer of slime so much that you probably couldn't even pick them up. There was no slime. My thoughts were, you know, this stuff has been staged out there and he's not in this body of water.
- [18:16]
Narrator
Six months later, on the one year anniversary of Mike's appearance, his widow Denise visits the lake for the first time since the supposed accident. Clay Ketchum said, my wife took her.
- [18:28]
Clay Ketchum
Out there and showed her where the site was. Denise got out of the car, she had some flowers. They walked up to the water. Denise stood there for quite a while and then laid the flowers into the water. It seemed like she was trying to move on.
- [18:47]
Narrator
Cheryl Williams is determined to continue the investigation that she felt the Florida Department of Law enforcement were not carrying out. She never felt as though her son had died at the lake and she wanted someone to investigate it properly. It had only ever been an FWC search with some police assistance. She erects billboards around town and makes a picket sign asking for help to find her missing son. But her efforts are met with resistance by those who feel the case is closed and those Cheryl feels had failed to investigate.
- [19:18]
Cheryl Williams
A friend of mine took pictures of Michael and put them on missing person cards. And then we had them printed out in the print shops. We nailed them to trees. We nailed them, took them all to all the cities around Tallahassee.
- [19:36]
Narrator
After writing hundreds of letters and posting billboards to raise awareness, Cheryl's persistence pays off. And after just over three years, the FDLE agree to open a file on her son's case.
- [19:49]
Cheryl Williams
Whenever I would try to get fgle or somebody to look into the case, it was Ms. Williams. Alligators ate Mike. There's nothing criminal about that. We can't do anything about that. I fought, I wrote hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of letters. I finally got my criminal investigation in February of 2004.
- [20:16]
Narrator
Starting from the very beginning, the investigators re interview everyone that was spoken to Following Mike's disappearance. Former investigator Tully Sparkman from the Florida State Attorney's office is brought in to work on the investigation.
- [20:30]
Investigator Tully Sparkman
So I got the case in 2005. There wasn't a lot going on in 2005 with it. It always seemed like there's something else going on here. There's that is right under the surface. We're not seeing cold cases are special. They're different from the other cases. Most cases you get, you're out there investigating soon after it happened. You're following leads, and it's a fresh trail. When you're working these, you're looking for something you missed. When I picked up the case, what stood out was one friend, and that was Brian Winchester. Brian shows up and finds the boat. Well, that was interesting. You had people up and down all over the place. Nobody found the boat.
- [21:05]
Narrator
Brian Winchester seemed to be around at the right time. He was able to find the boat, and he was able to identify Mike's hat. Investigator Tully Sparkman feels like there's something off about the fact that Brian was present at such significant moments in the search.
- [21:21]
Investigator Tully Sparkman
The percentages and the odds are just really curious. So then we start to look a little deeper. We found out this insurance policy for a million dollars got Brian wrote this.
- [21:32]
Narrator
Just before Mike disappeared. His best friend Brian, who worked as an insurance salesman for his father's company, had written a $1 million policy on Mike's life, naming Denise as the beneficiary. Mike loved his family and worked hard for them, so having an insurance policy was not surprising. But this wasn't the only policy for Mike's life. Mike had a $250,000 policy through his job and another private life insurance policy worth $500,000. So why would he get another?
- [22:08]
Mike's combined life insurance policies meant that Mike's widow, Denise, could live comfortably after his supposed accidental death. And as he was declared dead within six months of going missing, it did not take long for Denise to be able to put in a claim for the compensation. Denise had adjusted to life without Mike, and eventually she began dating again. The relationships weren't too serious, but she did find love again with Mike's best friend, Brian Winchester.
- [22:43]
Brian and his wife had been a pillar of support for Denise and her daughter after Mike vanished. And when Brian got divorced in 2003, he seemingly fell in love with his best friend's widow. Mike's mother, Cheryl, remembers hearing about the relationship for the first time.
- [23:01]
Cheryl Williams
My older son Nick got married in September of 2004. Denise and Brian both came to the wedding and told us that they were dating.
- [23:14]
Narrator
By the time the FLDE investigation begins in December 2005, Denise and Brian are married and living in the house Mike and Denise shared. Living together in a house that holds so many memories of Mike does not seem like the fresh start people in the community expected the unorthodox couple to make. And the investigators suspect that there was something more troubling than an unconventional romance between the widow and the victim's best friend. Investigator Tully Sparkman begins to piece together the Circumstantial evidence. That brings a cloud of suspicion over Brian and Denise.
- [23:51]
Investigator Tully Sparkman
All of a sudden, the guy that wrote the million dollar policy is married to the woman who's benefitting from Mike Williams death. That led to another suspicion. Maybe both Denise and Brian were involved in Mike's disappearance. But it wasn't enough there to say, we're able to bring charges, you're following leads, and you kept waiting for a flare up, waiting for something to show up. It's a hard place to be in. We had suspicion, we had suspicious activity. We never had quite enough evidence to get a search warrant for the house.
- [24:22]
Narrator
Suspicion is not enough. And the case goes cold. Once again.
- [24:28]
Unwavering in her determination to get justice for her youngest son, Cheryl Williams continues to search for ANSWERS, writing over 2,600 letters to the governor of Florida asking him to appoint a special prosecutor to the case. Cheryl writes letter after letter for five long years and feels as though she's the only one advocating for her son.
- [24:52]
Cheryl Williams
I kept Michael's name and his picture in the public. Michael was my child, and there was nobody else out there to speak for him but me.
- [25:03]
Narrator
Despite the case going cold, investigators continued to watch Denise and Brian. They hope that eventually one of them will crack and come forward with the information they need. So they watch and they wait. Denise had high expectations of her new husband. She wants him to be baptized into her church and complete a lengthy premarital course. The pressure became too much for Brian, and Denise was unhappy. Denise and Brian's marriage starts to break down in 2012, and Brian's behavior becomes increasingly erratic. He desperately tries to save their relationship. But after Denise files for divorce in 2015, Brian begins to think of ways to stop her from ending it altogether. And on August 5, 2016, something happens that blows the case wide open. In the early hours of August 5, 2016, Brian makes his way to Denise's house and breaks into her suv. He sprays the outside of the windows with bleach so that she won't be able to see him hiding in the cargo area. Denise wakes up and gets into her car to go to work as an accountant at Florida State University. But a sudden flash of movement in the back of the car stops her in her tracks. Brian quickly climbs into the passenger seat and orders her to drive to a location she she isn't familiar with. When Denise refuses to comply, Brian pushes the barrel of a gun into her ribs. Terrified, Denise pulls into a CVS parking lot. And Brian begins to explain his reasons for abducting her. He Tells her that he had to do it because she was not responding to his calls or texts, and without her, he has nothing to live for. He says that he's going to take his own life. After an hour of tense negotiations between the couple, Denise manages to escape by convincing Brian that she will discuss their relationship. He calms down enough to allow her to drop him off at his car and promises not to tell anyone what happened. But instead, she heads straight to the Leon County Sheriff's office and tells them that her estranged husband has come kidnapped her at gunpoint.
- [27:23]
Investigator Tully Sparkman
Denise is trying to convince him, hey, what are you doing? She's trying to tell him, hey, just calm down, everything will be all right. Whatever she has to say, he's stressed about the divorce, the pending divorce and everything going on. When Brian exited the vehicle, he grabbed a backpack. He had the pistol. He also had a couple spray bottles. It was all a configuration of a kit to dispose of a body. All of a sudden, I think it kind of hit Denise that, oh, he was really fixing to do something.
- [27:49]
Narrator
Denise is interviewed at the station and she tells them that she's in fear for her own life and the life of her 17 year old daughter. The investigators are briefed on the couple's shady background, and during the interview, one of the investigators seizes an opportunity to bring up Mike's disappearance.
- [28:06]
Brian Winchester
Do you think he's responsible for Mike's disappearance?
- [28:09]
Cheryl Williams
I do not and I never have. I would have never buried him if I.
- [28:14]
Brian Winchester
Where do you take Mike's very at?
- [28:16]
Cheryl Williams
Oh, I. I have no idea.
- [28:19]
Narrator
Denise shuts down and the investigators don't learn anything else about Mike's disappearance from her. But they do arrest Brian Winchester and charge him with aggravated kidnapping with a firearm. Brian pleads guilty to the charges, and at his sentencing hearing the following year, Denise pleads with the judge to give him the maximum time in prison. Stating that he had stolen her sense of security and that the incident had left her with post traumatic stress disorder, the judge sentences Brian to 20 years in prison. Denise is relieved and believes that she can get on with her life. Little does she know that two months before he was sentenced, Brian had agreed to tell the authorities what really happened to Mike Williams on Lake Seminole 17 years earlier.
- [29:11]
On October 9, 2017, investigator Tully Sparkman sits down with Brian Winchester and listens to the details of a sordid scheme. Brian had been finding life behind bars tough. And in an effort to get some relief, he has agreed to tell his side of the story in exchange for immunity on any other crimes.
- [29:35]
Brian Says that he had known Denise his whole life, starting from preschool, and they began having an affair in October 1997, just three years after Denise had married Mike and three years before Mike vanished. Brian became infatuated with Denise, but they couldn't be together with Mike in the.
- [29:55]
Brian Winchester
Way Denise made it clear she would never get divorced, Primarily because of appearances. She is ultra concerned about the way that she appears to the world.
- [30:09]
Narrator
Brian says that they planned to kill Mike, but Denise didn't want a scenario where it was an obvious murder. She wanted it to look like an accident. They thought about staging a robbery at his office. But when Brian told Denise of a story of how Mike had almost drowned on a hunting trip because of the weight of his waiters, they decided that was exactly what they would do. They had discussed bringing both of their spouses on a boat and drowning them both. But Brian didn't want to kill his wife. He would just divorce her. Brian says that it had been Denise's idea all along, and she wanted it to happen before their anniversary trip so that she wouldn't have to have sex with her husband. So on that fateful day in December 2000, Mike headed out to the lake with his best friend. Brian had told Mike about a new hunting spot he had found on lake Seminole, and Mike was eager to check it out. Brian recalled the plan when he spoke with investigators in 2017.
- [31:07]
Brian Winchester
The plan was that he was going to be wearing waders. And the belief was, somebody falls in the water with waders, you're going down. So we went out like we were going hunting.
- [31:25]
Narrator
I.
- [31:29]
Brian Winchester
Got him to stand up and I pushed him into the water.
- [31:34]
Narrator
The water was deep, but Mike managed to kick off his waders. He had practiced before. And as they sank to the bottom of a 12 foot hole in the lake, Mike was able to swim to a partially submerged tree trunk. In shock from the cold water and the realization that his best friend had pushed him in, Mike pleaded with Brian to help him. Brian didn't expect Mike to be able to remove his waders, so he had to think of another way to kill him. He circled the boat around Mike twice as he loaded his shotgun and took aim at Mike's head.
- [32:10]
Brian Winchester
He was in the water.
- [32:13]
Clay Ketchum
And he.
- [32:13]
Brian Winchester
Was like, struggling.
- [32:18]
But he was taking the waders and the jacket off.
- [32:23]
And he swam over to one of those stumps and held on to it.
- [32:31]
And he was panicking and I was panicking.
- [32:36]
And I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know how to get out of that situation.
- [32:41]
Investigator Tully Sparkman
And.
- [32:44]
Brian Winchester
So I loaded my gun and I just. I made one or two circles around.
- [32:53]
And as I passed by, I shot him.
- [33:00]
Where did you shoot him?
- [33:03]
FWC Officer (Alton Renau or William David Arnett)
Ahead.
- [33:06]
Narrator
After pulling the trigger, Brian pulled Mike's body from the water and loaded it into a dog crate in the back of his suv. He pulled Mike's shirt up over his face so he wouldn't have to see the damage the bullets from his shotgun had caused. In order to establish an alibi, he drove home and climbed into his bed beside his sleeping wife, having just washed his best friend's blood from his hands. When he went back out to his truck, he panicked when he saw Mike's blood dripping onto the driveway. Brian drove around for hours trying to think of a way to dispose of Mike's body. He took a tarp and a shovel and drove 50 miles from the lake to Gardner Road, a rural area in Leon County. Then Brian buried his best friend.
- [33:55]
After confessing, Brian heads out to Gardner Road with the investigators and points out where he thinks Mike's body is. On October 18, 2017, after five days of digging and 17 years of searching, Mike Williams remains are uncovered beneath six feet of mud.
- [34:17]
His face is still covered by his shirt, just as Brian said. His wedding ring is still on his finger, and a DNA test confirmed his identity. Cheryl Williams recalls hearing the devastating news.
- [34:31]
Cheryl Williams
I get a telephone call from Nick, and he said, mama Fgle just called and said to be at your house in 30 minutes. They told us that my son Michael had been buried just five miles from my house. I don't know how to tell you how it felt.
- [34:54]
Because all that time I'm looking for a child who's alive and they tell me he's dead. He's been dead for 17 years.
- [35:09]
Part of me just died that day.
- [35:15]
Narrator
The case against Denise is mounting without her knowledge. Investigators are able to determine that she had filed for the insurance money just 19 days after Mike went missing. She had been the one to petition to a county judge to have Mike declared dead after just six months. This usually took up to five years in Florida. While Cheryl was desperately trying to get an investigation opened, Denise warned her that if she did not let it go, she would not be allowed to see her granddaughter again. Cheryl could not give up on her son, and Denise was true to her word about keeping Ansley and Cheryl apart. Denise had been concerned that Brian would talk to investigators about the murder after he was arrested for kidnapping her. So she had reached out to Brian's ex wife, Kathy to ask her to get a message to Brian and tell him that she wasn't talking. Kathy had her own suspicions about Mike's death, and she began to assist the investigators by recording conversations between herself and Denise. Brian was offered a plea deal before he was sentenced for the kidnapping charge in exchange for his testimony and cooperation in the murder investigation. And he only received a 20 year sentence for the kidnapping.
- [36:32]
Denise is arrested while leaving work on May 8, 2018. She is charged with first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Denise denies the charges by pleading not guilty. And the trial begins in December 2018. The prosecution's star witness is Denise's own ex husband, Brian. Brian testifies about the affair between him and Denise, how they had hatched the plan to kill him in order to be together, and claimed the $1.7 million insurance payout. Brian tells the court about the last moments of Mike's life.
- [37:10]
Brian Winchester
So he was in the water.
- [37:14]
And he was like struggling.
- [37:19]
And the motor of the boat was still running.
- [37:25]
And I.
- [37:29]
Pulled off just a little bit to get kind of away from him so that he couldn't reach back into the boat. And I didn't know it at the time. I didn't know if he was trying to swim or I didn't know what was going on. But what I came to find out or eventually realized was he was taking the waders and the jacket off.
- [37:51]
Clay Ketchum
And.
- [37:54]
Brian Winchester
He got those off. And.
- [37:59]
I think I forgot to tell you about this part before, but.
- [38:04]
I remember now that that area of the lake had a lot of snags, a lot of dead trees that come up out of the water, and there's a lot of stumps that come up out of the.
- [38:18]
And he swam over one of those stumps and held onto it.
- [38:25]
And he was panicking and I was panicking. And none of this was like going how I thought it was going to go.
- [38:40]
I didn't know what to do.
- [38:44]
Clay Ketchum
But.
- [38:48]
Brian Winchester
He was. He started to yell.
- [38:56]
And I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know how to get out of that situation.
- [39:07]
And so I had my gun in the boat.
- [39:15]
Investigator Tully Sparkman
And.
- [39:17]
Brian Winchester
So I loaded my gun and I just. I made one or two circles around.
- [39:30]
And I ended up.
- [39:33]
Circling closer towards him.
- [39:38]
And he was in the water.
- [39:41]
Clay Ketchum
And.
- [39:41]
Brian Winchester
As I passed by, I shot him.
- [39:50]
In the head.
- [39:53]
Narrator
Brian admitted to planting Mike's hat on the lake while he was out, supposedly helping to search for his best friend. He also said that he did not tell Denise what had actually happened until years later. Denise's lawyers tried to discredit Brian's allegation that it had been Denise's idea to kill Mike.
- [40:10]
Brian Winchester
When you shot Mike Williams at Lake Seminole with the 12 gauge shotgun, was Denise Williams standing there with you? No, she wasn't. She was in my head, behind me. She was in your head.
- [40:20]
Narrator
Mm.
- [40:22]
Brian Winchester
Is it fair to say that over the years, you've been obsessed? Obsessed with Denise Williams? Obsessed?
- [40:31]
Denise and I were best friends. We were Bonnie and Clyde. We were partners in crime.
- [40:39]
Were we obsessed with each other? I'm not asking if she's obsessed with you.
- [40:43]
FWC Officer (Alton Renau or William David Arnett)
He's answering your question.
- [40:49]
Brian Winchester
You could say that. I won't argue with you on that. Denise Williams had no idea that you shot her husband in the face with a shotgun, did she? Correct. She didn't learn, or would not have been able to learn that you shot her husband in the face with a shotgun until after your proffer and testimony became public.
- [41:07]
Actually, I tried to tell her about it one day, and she did not want to know the details. She told me that she assumed that obviously, when his body was never found.
- [41:20]
That what we had planned did not happen. And that it never made sense to her. That I was able to get to the shoreline, but he wasn't. But that it was okay and we were forgiven. And we were like David and Bathsheba and God was going to forgive us and we didn't have to tell anybody about it.
- [41:45]
As long as we asked forgiveness from God, it was okay for us not to confess it to anybody else.
- [41:51]
Narrator
Cheryl is among those in the courtroom to hear the disturbing details of Mike Williams murder for the first time. She's heartbroken by the revelation.
- [42:00]
Cheryl Williams
He was a good person.
- [42:04]
He was a friend to everybody and Neil. At night when I go to sleep, the last thing I see is Michael clinging to.
- [42:16]
A stump in the middle of a lake, screaming for help. And I wasn't there to help him.
- [42:27]
That's what I have to live with.
- [42:33]
Narrator
After eight hours of deliberations, the jury return and find Denise guilty on all charges.
- [42:42]
Cheryl Williams determination to find out what had happened to her son had finally paid off. All those years of pleading for an investigation and never accepting the fact that Mike drowned in the lake had led to the woman who plotted his demise being convicted. But justice seemed to be snatched from her grasp. When the First District Court of Appeals overturned Denise's murder conviction In November of 2020, the appellate court found that the state had failed to prove that she had helped Brian Winchester commit the crime. But the conspiracy to commit murder charge was upheld, and Denise is currently serving a 30 year sentence in prison.
- [43:24]
Investigator Tully Sparkman said I don't know.
- [43:27]
Investigator Tully Sparkman
That Denise has ever admitted to anything. She's very good at compartmentalizing stuff, that this is all Brian. I believe she'll stay that way until the end.
- [43:38]
Narrator
The State of Florida is currently appealing the court's decision in an attempt to reinstate the first degree murder conviction. Life for Cheryl Williams was never the same. But the love for her son and the voice from the lake kept her going until she finally had closure.
- [43:56]
Cheryl Williams
I have not had any contact with my granddaughter from the time she was five years old.
- [44:04]
Denise told me if I continued to try to get a criminal investigation, I would never be able to see my granddaughter again. And I told her I couldn't stop it. She's 22 years old, but I would love to have my granddaughter in my life. Oh, there's a million things I'd like her to know about her daddy. But the main thing I would like her to know is he loved her more than life itself.
- [44:39]
God told me, you have to find him and bring him home. And I did. It took 17 years and it nearly killed me. But I did.
- [44:55]
Narrator
Cold case files is hosted by paula barros. It's produced by the law and crime network and written by eileen mcfarlane and emily g. Thompson. Our composer is blake maples. For a and e, our senior producer is john thrasher and our supervising producer is mccamey lynn. Our executive producers are jesse katz, maite cueva and peter tarshis. This podcast is based on ae's emmy winning tv series, cold case files. For more cold case files, visit aetv.com.
- [45:41]
Cheryl Williams
Hey, this is Sarah. Look, I'm standing out front of a.m. p.m. Right now and, well, you're sweet and all, but I found something more fulfilling, even kind of cheesy. But I like it. Sure, you met some of my dietary needs, but they've just got it all. So farewell, oatmeal. So long, you strange soggy.
- [45:59]
Brian Winchester
Break up with bland breakfast and taste AM PM's bacon, egg and cheese biscuit.
- [46:04]
Narrator
Made with K tree eggs, smoked bacon.
- [46:05]
Brian Winchester
And melty cheese on a buttery biscuit. AM PM too much good stuff.