http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20081215/NEWS01/812150326
Eight years later, still no trace of missing hunter Mike Williams
By Jennifer Portman DEMOCRAT SENIOR WRITER December 15, 2008
Cheryl Williams won't do anything different Tuesday. She'll watch the babies at her home day care and wonder what happened to hers.
Eight years ago Tuesday her 31-year-old son, Mike, vanished.
And even though one investigator remains assigned to the cold case, and cadaver-sniffing dogs have been tromping in nearby woods, any hope that the Division of Insurance Fraud could break it open is gone.
"It makes me sick in my stomach," Cheryl Williams said. "I don't actually know a whole lot more today than I did eight years ago."
The Tallahassee real-estate appraiser was first thought to have drowned in Lake Seminole early one morning while on a solo duck-hunting trip. When his body failed to float as expected, fish-and-game officials said he must have been eaten by alligators.
Despite extensive searches, no trace of his body has ever been found. Law-enforcement officials today dismiss the alligator theory: It was far too cold for gators to be feeding and, if they had, there would have been remains.
They think Williams was the victim of foul play and have suspects in mind, but they won't name them.
"There are leads that are being developed," said FDLE spokesman Mike Morrison. "We are optimistic that we will bring this case to a close."
But the Division of Insurance Fraud, which took a fresh look at the case in February, has closed its Williams file.
"Our job was extremely difficult, and we were simply unable to develop enough evidence to proceed with the investigation," said Mark Schlein, senior attorney with the division.
Williams had life-insurance policies with two companies when he disappeared, and his wife, investigators said, collected at least $2 million.
Williams' best friend, insurance agent Brian Winchester, wrote him a $1 million policy about six months before he disappeared, investigators said. In 2005 Winchester married Denise Williams, whom he has known since preschool.
The two have declined to comment, saying in previous e-mails that they loved Williams and asking that their privacy be respected.
"At the very least, we wanted to bring some closure.... That is not the case," said a frustrated Schlein. "If there is new information that comes to light, a case can be reopened. We have suspicions, but what we need is evidence."
Morrison declined to elaborate on what leads FDLE is exploring, saying that the case is active and ongoing. Williams was included in this year's edition of the department's cold-case playing cards, which are distributed among convicts in an effort to generate tips.
Kentucky-based forensic psychological profiler Carrie Cox said she provided information to FDLE this fall that Williams' remains could be in a rural area of Wakulla County. She provided map coordinates that correlated to an area near a boat ramp.
While a search with cadaver dogs did not turn up any hard physical evidence, Cox said, "There was some validating stuff to say that we are moving in the right direction.... I think something is there."
Morrison confirmed that FDLE, which assumed the lead role in the case this year, has no physical evidence in its custody. Williams' disappearance was not considered suspicious at first and his boat, Ford Bronco and other items found at the lakeshore in Jackson County were returned to his former in-laws and friends.
Williams was declared dead at the request of his former wife six months after he disappeared.
It took Cheryl Williams three years to get the attention of law enforcement and persuaded them to look into the case, but its initial handling and lack of hard evidence has hamstrung investigators and left her with few answers.
"I still hold out hope that child is alive," she said, "but everyone thinks he's dead."
