Cold-Blooded Killer | Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] this story has always been one that has fascinated people because it's so bizarre that this
could even happen 17 and 1 12 years we have always talked about Mike Williams being
missing not ever finding his body not ever having resolution was very difficult he was going to wake up early
and go duck hunting he was a big duck hunter and so he went off to the lake and then he never came
[Music] back Mike Williams was a straight shooter he loved his family he loved his
wife he put her on a pedestal Mike did everything that she wanted done Denise said jump Mike want to know how high
they were going to be celebrating their wedding anniversary and so when he did not come home about noon when he was
supposed to Denise started getting worried and started calling around this search was the most
intensive I ever seen law enforcement and friends and family combing the lake looking for
me they found the boat his truck the trailer that was all there I got up in the helicopter flew around around and
look for his body and one of the things that I noticed there were no less than 15 to 20 very large alligators swimming
all around this area lake seminol is known for having a lot of alligators we're in North Florida
there are a lot of alligators when we went back out there you know there was more evidence that
there was there had been alligator activity around there that's what you believed happened to
Mike yes I I firmly believe that I guess you're sort of hoping you find something
and sort of hoping you don't well we was hoping if he was here we would find him and get closure but no
it didn't happen people are attacked by alligators little dogs are eaten by alligators but you never hear of someone
who's just vanished eaten by a whole by an alligator it is totally impossible for 185lb man
to be consumed by an alligator Without a Trace I think that's when we started going oh my gosh this is not what we
thought it was many people felt like there was Foul Play involved Cheryl Williams Mike's mom
comes along and I pray every day that Mike will come home Cheryl begins her Crusade if you will trying to get
answers she'd make TI signs and stand in front of the church there were Billboards you know have you seen my son
she wrote the governor a letter every day for 9 years until God tells me in my heart that that child is dead I cannot
give up looking for him she wasn't going to quit until she had a body alive or dead he didn't just fall out of the boat
this wasn't just a hunting accident [Music] this man was murdered and they blamed it
on alligators for 17 years [Music] [Music] you've got a really love duck hunting to
love Lake seol it's shallow it's swampy and it's popular with the local alligators Mike Williams really did love
duck hunting and people say that's why he came here well Before Dawn on December 16th
2000 alone his wife said the plan was that Mike would be back home in time to celebrate his wedding
anniversary but 12 hours later after his wife reported him missing Lake seol would be swarming with Rescuers
searching for Mike Williams on the land on the water and in the air can you show
me the area that you guys searched in basically this area from here to there about 5 Acres Alton rainu and David
Arnett were among the first law enforcement officers to get a call about a missing duck hunter what we thought
had happened is that he possibly fell out of the boat or capsized is it unus ual for people to fall out of boats
while they're hunting for ducks It's Not Unusual it it happens um quite often out
here as far as they might hit a stump and throw them out early the next morning there was a
break Mike's boat was found on board were some decoys and his shotgun but no sign of Mike himself
we've done a grid search very slow meticulous grid search back and forth over the search area and what began as a
search and [Music] rescue soon turned into a search for a body we stayed with that grid until we
covered this whole area cadaver dogs were brought in while teams scoured the murky bottom of lake seol in a gruesome
search for Mike's body that was high intensity and low Tech this is the tool of your trade
right that was that was actually one of the poles and and all you do is put it in the water and see if you feel
anything if it's a log it's kind of a a a thump kind of a hard thump if it would
been body you hit it it's kind of like a pillow did you feel something ever on the bottom that felt like a body never
never Williams vanished one day before his sixth wedding anniversary he met met his wife Denise at North Florida
Christian High School he was a football player she was a cheerleader he was president of the student council she was
the secretary had they seem together gray couple Scott dunie met Mike in high school he and his wife Anessa were among
Mike's best friends if you knew Mike he's the kind of person that uh is going to do anything and everything for you so
Denise you know found a gem they both graduated from Florida State University Denise became an
accountant for the state Mike became a real estate appraiser working for clay Ketchum this kid was straight as an era
he really truly was Clay and his wife Patty got to know Mike well he was an unbelievable worker it was not uncommon
for him to do 15-hour days I mean he would be in there early work until 1: or 2 in the morning and then be right back
he had incredible energy before long Mike's career took off and that's when he married
Denise he loved his wife he even would leave the office and go pump her gas I'm sorry go pump her gas yes she would call
him and say Mike I need gas and Mike would run over there pump her gas and run back we all said we wanted to be
married to Mike just before Mother's Day in 19 99 Denise gave birth to the couple's daughter and by chance a local
Tallahassee TV station was at the hospital we're just totally overwhelmed she was due Tuesday and she would have
made me wait a whole another year for Mother's Day she tipped the scales it was unbelievable I have a whole new
respect for my wife and women in general and what they go through to bring a a new child new life into the
world 19 months after he became a father Mike was Miss missing and the longer the search lasted
on Lake seol the harder it was on the Searchers afraid of what they might find one of Mike's oldest friends Brian
Winchester was out there looking for him from the start and it was Brian who discovered Mike's empty
boat Brian decided that we didn't want to be there when Mike's body was pulled up Brett Ketchum was with Brian during
the search so we would get in a car and drive to a gas station and go get a Coke
and it was very emotional trips I mean it was you know crying and it was tough the search was called off after 44
days Rescuers could find no trace of Mike Williams he was listed officially as still missing and some people
wondered if he had just run off we knew Mike had not run off I mean he loved his family and he adored his
daughter adored her so Mike did not run off this was not some elaborate ruse soon there was another explanation
offered for why Mike's body could not be found that he had been snatched by an alligator alligators they don't eat you
right then this is morbid to talk about but they go stuff you somewhere for 6 months and and then come back later one
of the rescue teams agreed writing the alligators have dismembered and have stored the remains in a location that we
would not be able to find but there was at least one person who had serious doubts about that
theory Mike's mother Cheryl she pretty early on believed that there was more to this and that he was
not in likes him at all I think she just thought something something's not right
[Music] here 6 months after Mike Williams disappeared investigators had no new leads no real hope of finding him and
then what could be a break bubbled up from the muck of lake seol that is marking a spot where the waiters had
popped up a local fisherman found a pair of waiters like these which were believed
to have belonged to Williams did it make sense to you that they popped up here I mean you would you
would search that area right we had searched it many times Well very well then 2 days after that Mike's
fishing jacket and his hunting license were found at the same spot along with a flashlight but Williams was still
missing his wife Denise was raising their 2-year-old daughter alone Denise was a doting mother the
pride and joy of her life but Scott dunie says now that Denise was a single mom money was
getting tight I was helping her with some of the items that needed to be sold and to generate some cash and until the
insurance money came and there was a lot of insurance money involved Williams had three
policies worth more than $1.75 million Mike wanted to make sure his family was taken care of because Mike
hunted and fished and did some pretty high-risk activity and Clay really encouraged him to load
up with her expenses reportedly mounting Denise went after the insurance money quickly while the search itself is still
going on while he is still actively missing they're still actively searching for him he she is going and filing a
claim against his life insurance Jennifer Portman covered this case for the Tallahassee Democrat she
was a consultant for 48 hours she was really ready to accept the fact that he was missing and presumed dead very early
on but the State of Florida was not according to Florida law since there was no proof Williams had died he would not
be declared dead for 5 years Denise did not want to wait that long to collect on
Mike's life insurance how much time did it take in this case it took six months it was very fast abnormally
fast that's because Denise's attorney argued to a judge that the waiters the vest and the hunting license were proof
enough that Williams was dead the judge AG greed and issued a death certificate cause of death accidental drowning while
duck hunting on Lake seol body has not yet been recovered based on that and that alone was what got him declared
dead pair of waiters and a fishing license and some other stuff yeah exactly the case of the missing Hunter
seemed closed and was soon forgotten by almost everyone but not by Mike's mother
Cheryl did did she believe that her son drowned in Lake seol she never ever believed that her son was in the lake
and she was absolutely committed to finding out what happened to him it's never out of my head where is
this child Cheryl caught the attention of the local news he may be dead but he's not in that Lake and if somebody
did hurt my child I want him found and I want him punished Cheryl started keeping
notes of everything copious notes of all of the you know strange things that were
going on she eventually filled 27 single spaced pages with lots of unanswered questions like what made the waiters
float after 6 and 1/2 months underwater her notes ended with a plea to anyone who would listen please help me find my
son she was trying to basically compile all of these evidence that she could find and trying to get it in front of
someone who would listen to her well did Denise help her oh no Denise completely
cut her off Denise was adamant no investigation she threatened to withhold Cheryl's
granddaughter from her correct she said if you continue to press for this investigation you will never see your
granddaughter again so what did she do she took the energy she would have spent loveing on that child and tried to find
her daddy Cheryl pressed on and started poking holes in the official version of what happened to her son for years after
Mike Williams disappeared there was a theory that the reason his body was never found was that he had been eaten
by alligators turns out there's a problem with that theory Cheryl contacted Matthew aresco an alligator
expert Florida has a few of them in his response he explained that alligators do
not feed in the cold winter months cold weather um causes a water temperature to
drop so alligators don't feed in the winter time what's more aresco said that when alligators kill there is always
forensic evidence left behind and he said attributing Mike's disappearance to an alligator attack may be a convenient
explanation for the authorities but was virtually impossible we're in North Florida there are a lot of alligators I
will give you that but it is winter alligators do not eat human beings without leaving a trace in the middle of
December when it's cold it just doesn't happen if not for Cheryl Williams there's no way that we would
know where Mike Williams was or anything that ever happened to him she was the driving
force charl Williams knew because an expert told her that her son was not eaten by an
alligator but she did not know much else about how he vanished one of the things
that has been so difficult about this case is that there was an absolute lack of physical evidence you didn't have a
body you didn't have any of these things that maybe could point you towards something but Cheryl had something those
27 pages of detailed notes in 2004 four years after Mike disappeared Cheryl's campaign finally caught the attention of
the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigators met with her and then launched a multi- agency
investigation when did you first begin thinking this was a crime the first night we talked to Miss Cheryl at the
time Derek Wester was with the Jackson County Sheriff's Office he was part of the investigation she had it all broke
down and then as she's relaying this story all these inconsistencies start adding up do you remember what some of
those inconsistencies were the insurance it was Mike's three life insurance policies that caught their attention
particularly the last one he bought not long before he disappeared worth $1 million how did Mike Williams end up
with that million-dollar life insurance policy who sold it to him Brian Winchester sold him the million-dollar
life insurance policy about 6 months before he went missing Brian Winchester was an insurance
agent he'd been Mike's best friend since high school where like Mike he met his future wife Kathy Aldrich and from then
on the two couples were inseparable you know they did literally everything together they went out to dinner
together they bought houses at the same same time they got married at the same time babies at the same time you know
they were they were very close Brian Winchester was in the insurance business so it's not that odd that he would sell
his friend an insurance policy no it's not I mean just the timing of it in retrospect looks a little
weird that wasn't the only thing that started to look weird those waiters that popped up in Lake seol surfaced just as
Denise Williams needed proof that her husband was dead in order to get the insurance
money how many days before the court hearing these waiters popped up less than a month I mean it was really close
they had supposedly been submerged in the lake for six months these waiters was in very good shape they were also
not slimy and what did that mean they had not been in the water very long so you looked at that stuff and you thought
to yourself what planted it was planted yeah no one could say for sure who planted it
but as time passed Denise Williams and Brian Winchester started attracting attention and some suspicion because
years after Mike disappeared Winchester divorced his wife Kathy he began dating Denise and then he married her we went
to the wedding was she a suspect in your mind at that point I think in mine I was
yes the minister at some point said I've counseled with this couple and they have
no secrets I don't know and clay and I both went we kind of nudged each other like well there might be just one little
secret you don't know all these things start becoming like clear that we now we've got the
insurance now we've got the waiters got the alligator Theory being busted by the
experts so as they're building their case you know they talk to people they start getting somewhere one of the first
people investigators talked to was Denise Williams there's no emotion there's no softening up there
there's there's nothing I mean she's just matter of fact and cold but Brian Winchester had much more to say he
offered detectives an alibi for the morning Mike Williams went missing he said he was 60 M away from the lake in
bed Brian tells us that he was going hunting with his father-in-law and overslept you know for a fact that Brian
was not telling you the truth then mhm Winchester could not have known it but detectives already had a witness who
said he saw Winchester that morning at Lake seol I know the the man personally I mean i' I've known him all my life and
um I composed a lineup and I took it to him Joel says well he wasn't smiling like that but that's him and he pointed
to Brian Winchester and he had seen that same man he said when that morning there
was one more thing Winchester didn't know police were talking to his ex-wife and she told them Denise and Brian might
have been having an affair for years before Mike disappeared there was definitely a suspicion that
him and her were having a fair well before that December while Denise was still married to Mike yes the plot was
sure thickening but investigators still weren't sure what the full story was after 2 years the FDLE hit a wall
but Cheryl Williams who had been fighting since the day her son disappeared was not giving up and it's
horrible not knowing what happened to him she was very very very frustrated with FDLE and felt that they were not
doing their job they weren't trying so she picked you know she would have signs made and and walk up and down
in front of the church every year she would have Billboards put up around town showed a picture of Mike
and missing and if you have any information who's to contact and she went after the governor she wrote the
governor a letter every day for nine years in fact the governor received 1,472 letters that we know
of her suspicion was always with Brian and Denise more so with Denise the two people who were considered most
likely suspects were together and unless one of them turned on the other you were
never going to find out what happened here did you think this case would get broken not until I found out that they
were having marital problems they turned on each other like brats in a sa side [Music]
until God tells me in my heart that that child is dead I cannot give up looking SL as the years dragged on it looked
like the mystery of what happened to Mike Williams might never be solved if Brian and Denise knew anything
about Mike's disappearance they weren't talking and no one could make them by Florida law as long as they stayed
married neither could be forced to testify against the other with Brian and deise being married you were how were
you ever going to get the truth because one is not going to turn on the other but behind the scenes Denise and
Brian's marriage was disintegrating and after 7 years in 2012 they decided to separate he is you know
self-described as being a sex addict he's trying to please her by going to therapy by getting counseling like he's
jumping through all these hoops trying to do all these things to get her back and she's not kind of accepting
them after four more years of trying to patch things up Brian snapped one morning Denise gets in her car she's
driving to work and she senses something in the back and Brian Winchester has hidden in the back of her car and is
coming over the seat and has got a gun he's got a gun he's got a gun he had a gun he had a tarp the idea was that he
was going to kill her he's screaming and I'm just like shaking and he's telling me to stop
crying that people are going to notice Denise reported her kidnapping to the leyon county sheriff's office I was like
are you planning on you know ending both of our lives today well mine I'm planning on mine and then he would say I
want to kill M he must have said a million times I want to kill myself Brian Winchester was soon arrested and
charged with the kidnapping and aggravated assault of his wife I was just kind of agreeing with whatever he
was saying and I was like I know that you love me and police quickly realized that the rift in Denise and Brian's
marriage presented an opportunity a tag team of detectives arrived to see what they could get out of Denise to see
if she would Now flip on her estranged husband and talk about his involvement in Mike Williams's
disappearance I know Denise he did and you knew exactly what I'm talking about and he was going to do
it again Tallahassee detective David mccraine tried he wasn't going to kill himself and he was going to kill you so
that you could talk about him later that is the truth mcra turned up the heat 15 years ago he walked in told
you he' done something didn't he no Denise no you have got he this is not going away okay
he's going to kill you he's even to kill himself because he's got no other Avenue
but Denise did not budge is I'm let Flor Department of so special agent Mike dainy came in he'd
been working the Williams case for years do you think it's responsible for my expence I do not and I never have I
would have never married him if I thought that I mean in my mind and in my heart no she wasn't giving up anything
she was giving up absolutely nothing where do you take my experience oh I I have no idea any
speculation on that on where he's Buried buried I mean I believe you don't really
believe he he died at on the lake I do why I just I just always have that's what I believe that was her story and
stick into it that left Brian as the only possible source of information in the Williams
case he was facing a long stretch in prison for the kidnapping but there was no word about what if anything he would
say about Mike disappearance we're here in state of Florida versus Brian Winchester 2000 16
months later Brian pled guilty to kidnapping and assaulting Denise and appeared in court for his sentencing we
had a a plea and we weren't sure what the government was going to ask for he was crying at times he apologized Tim
Johanson is Brian Winchester's lawyer we had indicated we want 15 the state gets
up and for 45 my client would like to address the cour never ever did I have any
intentions of harming Denise nor would I nonetheless I do know that she was hurt by my actions and again I am truly
sorry [Music] start by stating your name please Denise Williams Denise showed up at the
sentencing what was she like there what did she want she wanted him to go to prison for the rest of his life I start
each day with the memory of him jumping out of the back and I end each day feeling the gun shoved in my ribs
when I turn on my right side trying to sleep she was scared sced she was compelling he will finish what he has
started no matter what age he is when he's released most people in the courtroom were pretty stunned by it it
was pretty powerful I'm asking you to sentence him to life in prison for the crimes he has committed it comes down to
my life or his and I'm asking you please to choose mine thank you come on up with your client Mr
Janson for kidnapping Denise Brian was sentenced to 20 years behind bars he was Shackled at the waist and
the ankles and when they shuffled him off to prison we felt so defeated because we said they'll never be an
answer to our friend Mike never an answer we won't know well you were wrong we were
wrong they had found Mike's body [Music] [Music] this was so huge it still is really
pretty stunning just one day after Brian Winchester was sentenced for kidnapping
Denise Williams the Florida Department of Law Enforcement held a news conference and the news really was huge
standing here now I can tell you that we know what happened to Mike Williams he was
murder they know that because sometime before he was sentenced for kidnapping Brian Winchester cracked and confessed
in these audio recordings I went and met Mike at a gas station I followed him to the lake we
launched the boat it was just like a hunting trip was supposed to be Winchester had cut a deal with
prosecutors in exchange for his confession he would not be charged with murder even though he admitted killing
his best friend I got him to stand up and I pushed him into the water and he was in a panic obviously I was in a
panic I didn't know what to do and I ended up shooting him the agreement that we drafted up
said that anything he said that day could not be used against him Winchester gave prosecutors what they wanted most
the location of Mike Williams's body I backed my Suburban down to the edge of the lake and put his body in the back
and pushed his boat back out into the water Brian says he left Mike's truck and trailer at Lake seol to make Mike's
disappearance looked like an accident but actually Mike's body was nowhere near near Lake
seol he was 60 M away at car Lake a remote marshy area just 10 minutes from Winchester's
home Brian LED investigators here to the spot he buried Mike back in 2000 and they commenced what FDLE told
me is the most extensive search they have ever undertaken in the history of the agency the search uncovered Mike's
skeletal remains and his wedding ring among other things and there was horrifying evidence
of what happened to him and what they were able to show very clearly was that he had been shot
basically at Point Blank Range in the face with a shotgun this was up close personal deadly yeah being gruesome
yeah and Winchester provided one final piece of the puzzle he said it was all Denise's
idea she would not get divorced and so she basically said there's only one solution as he tells it she was not
willing to endure the public shame of a divorce so she thought murder was a better answer I guess it was better to
be known as a widow than a divorce wow that is incredibly cold and wouldn't it be great if we also oh by the way
collected you know almost $2 million in insurance we would end up together we would live happily ever after oh and as
a side note we've got all this money to enjoy a wonderful life together the happily
[Music] everaarts after the discovery of Mike's body was announced Denise Williams was
arrested and charged with first-degree murder [Music] conspiracy to commit murder and
accessory after the fact it was a very bizarre moment and she said nothing and she didn't look at
anybody she just looked straight ahead it's a bitter sweet feeling you are so thankful that she has been outed
for the true person she is but it doesn't you still left with the same result even though know you saw her let
away in shackles and an ugly dress and hair that needed a die job I got to tell you that
felt pretty good to me cuz I know how important appearances are to her she didn't do it she had nothing to
do with it she's completely innocent defense attorney Ethan Way is representing Denise did she know about
it no not before not during not after you are very confident I have an innocent client it's the best kind
[Music] on December 11th 2018 prosecutor John fuches gave his opening argument at
Denise Williams's murder trial Denise likes a sound of being a widow much more than a divorce obviously can't be caught
with a murder so they had to make it look like an accident raise your right hand please
sir early on the state called Brian Winchester we had an agreement that she would never say anything about me and I
would never say anything about her because we felt like that as long as neither one of us talked that nobody
would ever find out what happened good morning ladies and gentlemen Ethan Way was in an enviable
position for a defense attorney representing an accused murderer the prosecution star witness admits he is
the killer when you shot Mike Williams with a 12 gauge shotgun was Denise Williams standing there with you no she
wasn't she was in my my head behind me Denise Williams had no idea that you shot her husband in the face with a
shotgun did you correct Mr Winchester You're a murderer isn't it true yes sir Mr Winchester you're a liar isn't it
true yes sir of course Cheryl Williams always suspected her one-time daughter-in-law was involved and Cheryl
was now a witness for the prosecution the initial theory was that he was missing and possibly eaten by alligators
right he never beli that did you no sir how long did it take before Denise called you and said I'm sorry I was
wrong all these years she never did finally Winchester's ex-wife Kathy testified Denise kept quiet as part of a
conspiracy of Silence between Brian and Denise were you aware that Brian Winchester kidnapped Denise Williams yes
about a week after that did Denise ask you to do something Denise asked me to get a message to
Brian that I'm not talking after 3 days of testimony both sides rested Ethan wayy was so confident
the state had no hard evidence that he didn't want the jury to consider any charges less than murder one this is a
strategy decision is you understand it's a little bit out of the ordinary yes I guess for one of better word it's a
little bit of a gamble yes the jury was now facing an All or Nothing decision and the attorneys presented their
closing arguments this is not a case about trying to get quote Justice for Mike this is a murder case there's no
evidence that supports any of the allegations against my client we are counting on you to return a verdict that
speaks the truth and that verdict is not guilty think back three days ago Brian Winchester is
on the stand describing how he shot his best friend everybody in this entire room was moved by the sheer horror of
that situation one person that one person savier absolute Stone Face didn't bat an eye didn't shed a
tear that lady right there Miss Denise Williams the jury took 8 hours to reach a verdict
the defendant is guilty of conspiracy to commit first gr murder Denise Williams was found
guilty as to count too we the jury find the defendant is guilty of first degree murder on all counts the defendant is
guilty of accessory after the fact of first degree murder Mike's family and friends waited
18 years for this day sometimes the wheels of Justice turn slowly but they do still
turn for Cheryl Williams it has been a long heartbreaking fight but now she can finally lay her son to rest it hit her
really hard and and I think she's still coming to terms with it I mean the brutality of it the the finality of it
how anyone could do this to Mike it kind of destroys your your faith in in man to
do this to him and the way it was done and it's just unimaginable you still miss him oh God
he was such a good guy he loved to work he loved his family he put him on a pedestal and he got killed for it that's
the irony of this is the kid did nothing wrong [Music] CBS next a rock star of the snake
breeding world found dead I assumed it was a snake it wasn't a snake but the killer was coldblooded who would want to
kill Ben renck we could have imagined anything like that 48 Hours Crime Time double feature
continues next on CBS [Music]

A father goes hunting in a Florida lake and vanishes. Many thought he was eaten by alligators - not his mother. Seventeen years later, stunning courtroom revelations: it was murder. "48 Hours" correspondent Richard Schlesinger reports. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

Mike Williams disappeared while duck hunting; his murder was later confessed to by his best friend Brian Winchester, implicating his wife Denise.

Key points

The Mysterious Disappearance of Mike Williams. Mike Williams vanished while duck hunting, sparking a massive search and years of speculation.
Cheryl Williams' Relentless Pursuit. Cheryl Williams, Mike's mother, fought tirelessly for answers about her son's fate.
Denise's Emotional Plea. Denise Williams asks the court to choose her life over her husband's during sentencing.
Brian's Confession. Brian Winchester confesses to the murder of Mike Williams, revealing shocking details.
Verdict Delivered. Denise Williams is found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This man was murdered and they blamed it on alligators for 17 years.

3:32WatchAug 20, 2024

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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