Florida authorities have arrested the widow of a man who was reported missing after failing to return from a duck hunt in 2000 and whose remains were recovered just five months ago.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement arrested Denise Williams, 48, at her place of work at Florida State University on Tuesday after a grand jury indicted her for first-degree murder in the death of Mike Williams.
State attorney Jack Campbell said Denise also faces a count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and a count of being an accessory after the fact. Williams was booked into Leon County jail and is being held without bail.
Widow jailed: Denise Williams, 48 (left), has been arrested in the 2000 murder of her first husband, 31-year-old Mike Williams (right) in Florida
Accomplice: A grand jury indictment alleges that Mike’s best friend Brian Winchester (pictured in court), who later married Denise, was the one who pulled the trigger
FDLE agent Mark Perez said in a statement that agents and analysts have logged over 3,000 hours on the case since taking it over in 2004.
Mike, a real estate appraiser and married father-of-one, disappeared on December 16, 2000, after he had supposedly gone duck hunting alone on Lake Seminole near Tallahassee. The day coincided with his and Denise’s sixth wedding anniversary.
Six months prior, Williams’ best friend, Brian Winchester, 47, helped him write a $1million insurance policy.
Mike married his high school sweetheart, Denise, in 1994 and welcomed a daughter with her five years later; the child was just 18 months old when her father vanished and is now 18.
The 31-year old’s body wasn’t found after a 44-day search in and around the lake. One theory at the time was that he drowned and was eaten by alligators, but that was later disproved.
Six months after his disappearance, waders believed to belong to Williams were found floating in perfect condition in the search area, and reportedly showed no signs of an alligator attack.
Picture-perfect: Mike married his high school sweetheart, Denise, in 1994 and welcomed a daughter with her five years later (family photo)
Best of friends: Six months before his disappearance, Winchester (left) helped Mike (right) write a $1million insurance policy. All of his death benefits, which were later collected by his widow, came out to $2million
Not long after, his widow had Williams declared dead and collected a total of $2million in death benefits, according to The Tallahassee Democrat.
In 2005, Denise and Winchester who have reportedly known each other since preschool, married. They separated in 2012 and in 2015 Denise filed for divorce, against her second husband’s wishes.
Last year Winchester was charged with kidnapping Denise Williams at gunpoint. He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. FDLE announced it had discovered Mike Williams’ body the day after Winchester was sentenced
Authorities said they were able to find Williams’ remains buried beneath a dead-end road just five miles from his mother’s house after receiving ‘new information.’
According to a Leon County grand jury indictment issued on Tuesday, Denise was a ‘principal’ in the murder and Winchester was the one who pulled the trigger. The document alleges that the pair planned Mike’s killing for nine months.
So far, Winchester has not been charged in connection to Mike’s slaying.
On Wednesday, a day after she was arrested in her FSU office where she worked as worked as an accountant, Denise Williams made her first appearance via teleconference but kept mum. A judge declined to set bail for her.
Mike’s mother is pictured in 2016 with a missing poster. Her son’s body was found buried just five miles from his childhood home last year