GA - Athens, wife finds husband's body in basement after he was missing for a month, 44yo Frank Perry Williams, 09 APR 2025

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vls12345 said:
Maybe they fought in the past and his MO was to leave for hours or days.

Maybe she told him to go away and thought he did.

If she thought he had left, why would she go search the basement for him? It's not like when a child is missing and there is a need to search everywhere in case the child is hiding and/or got stuck. If she thought he left of his own free will, why would she search the house?

It’s such an odd scenario.

Separately, if there was an electrical short or fire, did that not cause a power outage for at least part of the house? Did she need to flip the breaker? Where is the breaker box?

Imo.
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That’s right, it appears she had no reason to search the house. The autopsy results should be available shortly. If indeed her husband died from natural causes as a result of an electrical malfunction of the circulator saw and IF he had reason to be working in the area he was found, I don’t think the wife could be at fault for not finding his body sooner, smell or no smell. I also don’t think it’s a crime not to report someone missing especially in the case of an adult and a domestic relationship breakdown. She might’ve been relieved to be rid of him.
JMO

www.onlineathens.com

Wife finds body of husband in basement of Athens home after missing for month

A 44-year-old Athens man was found dead Wednesday in his home after his wife reported she had not seen him in at least a month.
www.onlineathens.com
“She explained to police she last saw her husband about a month ago when they had a domestic argument and the next day she discovered him gone. Believing her husband had “left her for good,” she told an officer she went about her life.”
 
Gemmie said:
Your post made me think of something. For one, I think that sometimes there is no smell depending on where in the house it was. Well, there IS a smell, but it doesn't always reach the main house like a ton of bricks. I'll get to that in a minute. As far as this house, going by the pic of the pretty much identical house directly across the street that I posted a pic of what their basement stairs looks like upthread... (a regular door separates it from the main living space)... I can NOT imagine that a lot of stench didn't come through since most interior doors aren't airtight. There are gaps. Usually a fairly good-sized one at the bottom.

Which brings me to two experiences...

Apparently I had a rat or a mouse die in my crawlspace of my last house. The floors were solid oak, so not a lot of air from the crawl could make it into the house (sealed off well). I didn't smell a thing, UNTIL I turned on the AC and oh lord. The bad part was... it was summer and the house wasn't well insulated, so I wanted it on a fair amount. Phooey.
View attachment 579050

SOURCE

2nd experience... I am pretty sure something died in the attic, and likely a squirrel, so not real small. I smelled NOTHING. However, I had a fly invasion that I had to check on every few minutes for any new emergences from the attic so I could get to them before they were able to fly well once I found where they were coming from. Where there's a will there's a way when it comes to flies (or any living creature) to escape, move on, live and reproduce.

I have sun tunnels in the ceiling. They look like this:

View attachment 579052 SOURCE

So the sun hits the thing on the roof, it down down through a tunnel to the glass plate on the ceiling. Apparently there's a gap where it meets the ceiling as flies were coming out of it. This is how I came up with this conclusion... They were VERY slow when the first appeared (walked out of the gap) and basically just stood there waiting to be catched. After time went by they started coming out and weren't sluggish like they were newborn (like the slow ones where). I explained all that so you'd understand why it's my belief there was something that had died up there, yet no smell at all. Thank goodness! They flies were enough to deal with over the span of a few days. Icky.

So bring those 2 experiences back to this situation... first off... she smelled something but thought it was mold. Dead bodies do NOT smell like mold. Not even close. Also, a small gap is all a fly needs, and my ceiling gap is so narrow that I can't actually see it, yet I'd watch as they slipped out into the room through it. And I'll bet his were doing like the ones in my attic, and getting the heck out of dodge to find new sources of food, etc.

Lastly, a dead man is a whole lot larger than a mouse, rat, or a squirrel. Even if he was rail thin, which just a guess that he wasn't. More mass, more stench IMO, and perhaps more maggots/flies. So, not only was there likely a stench, IMO, but she likely had hundreds of flies in the house.

All JMO!
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OMG, I didn't even consider what must have been a fly infestation!
Thank you for the interesting post, it was very informative.
The only way I could believe her story is if she has early onset dementia or Alzheimer's, which I suppose is possible, idk.
It is sad that a person can die and not be missed for a month by anyone. Very sad and very strange.
 
From what I see in Google Street, the home appears cluttered outside, so I wonder if it might be a bit cluttered or hoarder status on the inside. In the street view from a couple years ago there is a window a/c unit in a window so it makes me wonder if there is any working ac.. it's just now starting to warm up in the area and basements tend to be a bit cooler than the rest of the house... It's hard to imagine, but if the house was already in hoarder status there might be other environmental and mental factors that might contribute to why she missed the smell until recently. It might also be why she didn't find him before; when I've experienced hoarder houses there's a lot of tunnel vision going on and it could be easy to miss something when there is stuff every where. Still, very hard to understand.
 
Bounceycat said:
Well this is an odd one:

Wife finds body of husband in basement of Athens home after missing for month

Summary:

Williams’ wife reported finding the body about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday while she taking a bicycle into the basement. She reported that they'd had an argument a month ago and the next day she realized he was gone. She figured he left her for good and she "went about her life." A buzz saw was found next to the body and appeared to have been damaged by fire. This remains under investigation and an autopsy has been ordered.
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:i find there is too much missing here. What did he die of, how long has he been dead/ these are details we have no clue about.
 
Bounceycat said:
I can find no other news articles covering this other than the one I posted above. But I have questions I hope we'll see answered. Firstly, how did she not smell anything for a month?!
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Just getting to this one... so I'm quite behind... so please forgive if what I write here...
Did she not ever look in his closet or his sock and underwear drawers? Hmmmm.
(But again, I'm way-y-y behind on this one.)
 
borndem said:
Just getting to this one... so I'm quite behind... so please forgive if what I write here...
Did she not ever look in his closet or his sock and underwear drawers? Hmmmm.
(But again, I'm way-y-y behind on this one.)
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No worries. We've all been there (me likely more than others being late to the party). Plus, there hasn't been much info past the initial story that I've seen.
 
Sounds like she's lucky the house didn't catch fire. But like another poster said, wouldn't this short out the lights in the house?

Also seems like she should have heard him working down there before he died.

I'm still really wondering about his job and his vehicle, if he had one.
 
sunspun said:
Sounds like she's lucky the house didn't catch fire. But like another poster said, wouldn't this short out the lights in the house?

Also seems like she should have heard him working down there before he died.

I'm still really wondering about his job and his vehicle, if he had one.
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And if it did short the lights.... dimes to dollars the fuse panel is... wait for it... In the basement. JMO!

(And I'm sure the saying dimes to dollars went right over all the young'uns heads lol)
 
MrsWatson said:
If she thought he was cheating and the had a "discussion", maybe she assumed he stormed off to his g/f's place and figured he had clothes, etc, there?

But why wouldn't his work try to contact her, or him? Surely if WM thought he had abandoned his job, they legally have to provide notice they are terminating his employment, likely by registered mail? (I used to do HR years ago, that was the legal requirement in that state.)

Just because it was called a laundry room doesn't mean the washer is there. If the basement wasn't finished, maybe the washer was upstairs somewhere?
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I would think if he was a no show for more than three days, it’s considered job abandonment. WM prefers to pay wages via direct deposit. So that would account for payment of his final paycheck. But I’m sure he was getting other mail regarding his termination.

But she’s already stated her thought was he left her. So none of that would have been alarming to her evidently.

I’ve pivoted on my earlier opinion regarding this case after reading some additional material. No way that smell wouldn’t have wafted upstairs. Unless she has a medical condition affecting her olfactory senses, there is no way a putrifying body smells like mold, IMO.
 
nhmemorymaker said:
He is only 44. Any kids? Must not be since no one looking for him.
Neighborhood looks pretty normal, neither congested nor rural. No neighbors interested either???
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Did he have a job? If so, did no one miss him at work? Maybe he was self-employed.
Was there any conversation about paying bills, mortgage payments if still owing a mortgage, or rent payments? Groceries, electric or gas bill, etc.?
Did each have a vehicle? If so, was his vehicle still around?
Did she look in his drawers to see if he had taken his clothing?.
SMH. Nope, not buying it -- not yet...
 
ClearAhead said:
That’s right, it appears she had no reason to search the house. The autopsy results should be available shortly. If indeed her husband died from natural causes as a result of an electrical malfunction of the circulator saw and IF he had reason to be working in the area he was found, I don’t think the wife could be at fault for not finding his body sooner, smell or no smell. I also don’t think it’s a crime not to report someone missing especially in the case of an adult and a domestic relationship breakdown.
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It could have been inertia due to depression or learned helplessness if this was an abusive relationship. She may have suspected if the lights flickered, but was frozen and couldn't decide what to do until the smell became unbearable.

It'd be similar to smelling something odd, and hoping that it's not a dead squirrel because you don't want to go up in the attic and can't afford to pay someone to do it. You know it might be serious, but you still ignore it and hope that somehow it'll go away on its own.

I don't think the delay in reporting alone is a sign of maleficence.
 
daybreaking said:
It could have been inertia due to depression or learned helplessness if this was an abusive relationship. She may have suspected if the lights flickered, but was frozen and couldn't decide what to do until the smell became unbearable.

It'd be similar to smelling something odd, and hoping that it's not a dead squirrel because you don't want to go up in the attic and can't afford to pay someone to do it. You know it might be serious, but you still ignore it and hope that somehow it'll go away on its own.

I don't think the delay in reporting alone is a sign of maleficence.
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If something mechanical gets fried I'm thinking it could have flipped the breaker. I was mowing my way too long grass once, which put too much pressure on the engine of my electric mower, and *poof*, it blew the circuit. I had to go into the garage and flip it back on (and stop doing that. lol).
 
callmehenry said:
This is just such a strange case and the wife is proving to be mighty strange too… never did laundry?? Instantly thought he’d left and that was that?? Never smelt anything suspicious?? Okkkkkkkk, if you say so!
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my bold

How about his clothes? Still in the closet and drawers? Did she throw them away?
 
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