Disappearance of Jerry Michael Williams

Jerry Michael Williams, known as Michael or Mike Williams to his friends and family, has not been seen since he left his home in Tallahassee, Florida, United States, to go duck hunting on December 16, 2000. After his failure to return, he was presumed to have drowned. In the years since then, however, investigators have come to suspect he was the victim of foul play. After Williams' boat was found abandoned on Lake Seminole, a large reservoir straddling the Florida–Georgia state line, the initial theory was that he had fallen out of it after a collision. A lengthy and exhaustive search of the lake bed in the area, however, failed to find his body, the only time that had ever occurred with a drowning death in the lake at that point in time. It was eventually concluded that his body was eaten by alligators, and after his waders were found in the lake six months later, he was declared legally dead following a court petition by his widow, who later married a mutual friend who had helped her take out a large life insurance policy on her first husband shortly before his disappearance. Some investigators felt aspects of the case were not consistent with that theory, and after pressure from Williams' mother Cheryl the case was reopened in 2004 by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE). By then officers had learned that alligators do not, in fact, eat during the winter months as the water is too cold, and it was concluded 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. Two later investigations, involving the state's insurance fraud agency and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in addition to FDLE, were likewise unable to uncover any significant new information. Cheryl Williams, who like some residents of the area where her son disappeared believes he is still alive, has continued to press the case, alienating many of the law enforcement officials she had previously persuaded to reopen the case. Her efforts included writing letters on a daily basis to the governor asking him to have the state reopen the investigation. The case has also been the subject of an episode of the Investigation Discovery channel series Disappeared. Background: Williams grew up in Bradfordville north of the city, 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 he excelled, serving as student council president, playing football and being active in the Key Club. At the age of 15, he both began duck hunting as a hobby and came to know Denise Merrell. After North Florida Christian, he attended Florida State University. Before he had even graduated, 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) went to bed, then sometimes come in to work after going hunting in the morning. According to his mother, he 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. In 1999, Williams' only child, a daughter, was born. His coworkers said he was as devoted to her as his work. The following year his father died. Midway through the year the couple bought a $1 million life insurance policy on him through Brian Winchester, a childhood acquaintance of Merrell who had also become best friends with her husband. Later in the the year, Williams told his mother, whom he had been consoling, that he would have liked to have $50,000 to take the next year off. Two days before his disappearance, Mike and Denise told his mother and Nick that they were planning to have another child soon. Denise would later tell a court that they ultimately planned to have another besides that. In 2001, she said, they were planning to go on a cruise in Hawaii that spring; later in the year he expected to travel to Jamaica as well for work. Disappearance: According to Denise Williams, on the morning of December 16, 2000 her husband awoke early, leaving the house on Centennial Oak Circle with his boat in tow well before dawn to go duck hunting at Lake Seminole, a large reservoir approximately 50 miles (80 km) west-northwest of Tallahassee along the Florida–Georgia state line, where three other streams merge to form the Apalachicola River. When he had not returned by noon, Denise grew concerned. The couple had plans to celebrate their sixth wedding anniversary that night in Apalachicola. Denise called her father, who went along with Winchester to the areas of the lake they knew Mike Williams frequently hunted at. They found his 1994 Ford Bronco near a remote boat launch in Jackson County, on the Florida side. After investigators with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FFWCC) were called, a search began, but soon had to be called off when a storm blew in. Search: The initial search investigation was handled by the FFWCC. Since it had been reported to them as a missing hunter, the agency handled the case that way, focusing on search and rescue or recovery. "We didn't have a whole lot to go on except there was an empty boat and the guy didn't show up," one of the agency's officers recalled later, after his retirement. "There was nothing there that we had from the scene that suggested foul play at all." Deputies with the Jackson County Sheriff's Office were present but primarily worked in a support capacity. Searchers focused on the 10 acres (4.0 ha) of the lake around the cove where Williams' truck was parked. His boat was soon found roughly 225 feet (69 m)[9] from the ramp by a helicopter pilot who initially assumed it was a boat being used in the search. In it investigators found his shotgun, still in its case, but not Williams himself. The cove is locally believed to have been an orchard before the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers and Spring Creek were dammed to create the lake. It took its name, Stump Field, from the many remaining stumps that protruded above and below the water level,[2] requiring careful handling of any powerboat in the area. Searchers thus assumed that Williams had hit a stump with his boat, fallen out, sunk into waters 8–12 feet (2.4–3.7 m) deep when his waders filled and then drowned when he was unable to extricate himself. If Williams had indeed drowned, his body would have been expected to float to the surface eventually, making it easier to discover. Investigators assured the Williams family that his body would, like other drowning victims, surface within three to seven days, perhaps a little later due to the cold front that had moved in after the first night's storm. However, after that period of time had elapsed, no body had been found. Ten days into the search, a camouflage-patterned hunting hat was found. Efforts continued until the search was called off in early February, although it has since been reported that it might have been continued if Denise Williams had indicated it should. At that time the case was still considered open. "Nothing in investigative or search and rescue efforts has produced any definitive evidence of a boating accident or a fatality as of this date," read the final report, issued in late February 2001. Subsequent developments: If Williams had drowned after accidentally falling out of his boat, his body was the only one from 80 such deaths in the lake to have never been found. The head of a private search firm that supplemented official efforts near the end of the search offered a possible explanation. "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. Early searchers had reported seeing many of them, and some of the officials seemed to be willing to accept the possibility. "Everyone knows the lake is full of alligators," said the FFWCC's David Arnette. "You look for other answers: 'Why hasn't the body appeared?'" It was suggested that perhaps Williams' body had become entangled in the beds of dense hydrilla beneath the lake surface, and then found by the alligators later, with turtles and catfish finishing what they left. Denise Williams, who had avoided media attention during the search for her husband, accepted that her husband had died. She arranged for a memorial service for Mike to be held the day after the search ended. In June, an angler in the Stump Field area discovered a pair of waders floating in the lake. These turned out to be Williams'. Divers called to the area also found a lightweight hunting jacket and flashlight on the lake bottom. A week later a Leon County judge granted Denise Williams' petition to have Mike declared legally dead based on that evidence and the belief that alligators had consumed anything else that might have been found. The court decision allowed Denise Williams to proceed with claims on her husband's life insurance policies. She received $1.5 million. Five years after her husband's death, she married Brian Winchester, who had sold Mike some of the policies a few months before he disappeared; the couple live in the same house where she and Mike lived. They have mostly declined to discuss the case publicly. Later investigations: The private search team that produced the alligator theory had been hired near the end of the original search by Williams' mother Cheryl. 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), she was not convinced that he had drowned in the lake. For the next several years, she investigated on her own when not doing day care at her house. She ran advertisements in local newspapers and put up signs seeking information. All the subsequent investigations of the case have resulted from her efforts. She believes her son is still alive. "I get criticized a lot for not admitting that Mike’s dead," she told the Tallahassee Democrat in 2007. "All I know is I can't stop looking for him until I find him." Her efforts have severely strained her relationship with her former daughter-in-law."