TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - An appellate panel dismissed first-degree murder charges against Denise Williams on Wednesday, overturning her sentence of life in prison. Mike was a promising football player and was voted best personality, while Denise Merrell, who would later become Mikes wife but was known by her maiden name at the time, cheered for the North Florida Eagles and won the title of best dressed. Mike won the title of best personality, while Denise won the title of best dressed., According to Mikes former classmates, he was well regarded at the exclusive private school, where he not only excelled academically but also held the position of student council president. Rumors were circulating around Tallahassee that a grand jury had been hearing evidence and would soon hand down indictments. Brian, on the other hand, disobeyed the plan, and the two only managed to kill Mike. [15], The private search team that surmised the alligator theory had been hired near the end of the original search by Williams's mother, Cheryl. life prison sentence for the murder of her husband, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. [6], Several days later, their attorney delivered the gun to the FDLE. According to Distractify, the grown-up Anslee competed in Miss Florida USA, seeking to win the title of Miss USA. "Some things looked unusual right off the bat," said the FFWCC's Arnette, who had initially thought the situation was a typical case involving a missing hunter and a possible boating accident. After years of pressure from Williams's mother, Cheryl, the case was reopened in 2004 by the FDLE. She said: "I am a fighter, not a victim. Denise Williams will remain in prison, after a judge resentenced her to 30 years for conspiring to murder her first husband. "I get criticized a lot for not admitting that Mike's dead," she told the Tallahassee Democrat in 2007. "Then after a couple, three days and after the weeks went on, those first things looked even more out of place. She died from exsanguination, or massive blood loss, due to multiple stab wounds, according to a preliminary autopsy; she also had numerous defensive injuries on her hands, palms, and forearms. Throughout their time in high school, both of them participated in a variety of extracurricular activities. Anslee Williams was only 18 months old when her father died in a tragic accident that tormented her for years. All the subsequent investigations of the case have resulted from her efforts. Her fate, in which she could have been. By then, officers had learned that alligators do not, in fact, eat during the winter months, as the water is too cold, and as such, it was suspected that foul play might have occurred. After Jackson County sheriff's investigator, Wester, asked the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) to look for it, agents visited Denise and Brian Winchester, now married, in their house (the same one she had lived in with Michael), to interview them. But things took a horrifying turn - nine . On the other hand, Denise and Mike were constantly sniping at each other, and she had a million and one explanations for why this would occur.. Contact News Director Jennifer Portman at jportman@tallahassee.com. He and Denise took it slow after Mike's "accident", both to let the insurance money earn further interest and to allay any suspicion. Williams was found guilty of murder, conspiracy, and accessory after the fact in the death of her first husband Mike Williams nearly two decades ago. She was able to calm him down and took him back to where he had parked his own truck at a nearby park. There is no manual to tell a mother what to do when her child goes missing. According to Dateline in 2018, Anslee Williams is still residing in Florida because her family is from the state. [25], In late June 2018, Denise Williams was ordered held without bond, with trial date set for September 24. It took its name, Stump Field, from the many remaining stumps that protruded above and below the water level,[3] requiring careful handling of any powerboat in the area. [3], If Williams had drowned after accidentally falling out of his boat, his body would be the only one of 80 known deaths in the lake never to have been found. He added that if new information were received, the investigation could be reopened. Denise Brown, Realtor at Keller Williams St Pete. 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. This sentencing hearing came after the First District Court of Appeals decided in Nov. 2020 to overturn her murder conviction in the case. Also Read:Regina Krieger Murder: Where Are Gilberto Rodriguez and Cody Thompson Now? Mike Williams's death, prosecutors say, was the product of a poisonous love triangle involving two sets of high school sweethearts that spiraled from infidelity to murder. On Denise's behalf, Way entered a plea of not guilty. The storm the night after he was reported missing had westerly winds that should have blown the abandoned, unmoored boat across the lake to the Georgia side. The Williams case has been ongoing since Mike Williams disappeared more than 20 years ago. Out on the water, he had gotten Mike to put the waders on, then pushed him out of the boat, thinking he would be unable to resurface and thus would drown. [21] Winchester is now imprisoned in the Wakulla Correctional Institution. Denise and her then-lover Brian Winchester were both accused of working together to kill her husband Mike Williams, a 31-year-old real estate appraiser. [3] It does not normally have jurisdiction in missing-persons cases and cannot get involved in investigations purely on the basis of a citizen's request, although it can offer assistance to local agencies, as it did in this case. As part of the deal, Anslee may not use any of the money on her mother's legal fees; if she did, she would owe the state a US$150,000 penalty. Mike Williams disappeared in December 2000 while on a duck hunting trip on Lake Seminole with his friend Brian Winchester. He helped police recover Brian's body, and testified against his former lover Denise, who had for years escaped justice as a grieving widow. Jerry Michael Williams was known as Michael or Mike. They allegedly chose December 9, 2000, as the day Winchester would take Mike on a duck hunting trip, knock him overboard and stage his death as . The lake is a large reservoir approximately 50mi (80km) west-northwest of Tallahassee located in the southwest corner of Georgia along its border with Florida, where three other streams merge to form the Apalachicola River. "[8], In 2012, Denise and Brian Winchester separated, reportedly due to his sex addiction; she filed for divorce in 2015. At the time of the trial investigators said Denise's motives were to get out of the marriage and collect nearly $2million from life insurance. In August 2021, the seventh season premiere of the A&E Network series Cold Case Files featured the case. Denise and Brian have mostly declined to discuss the case publicly. [29], Five months later, Mike and Denise's daughter Anslee was awarded all assets of her late father's estate and insurance monies due to Denise, after her mother signed them over to her to avoid prosecution on three counts of insurance fraud. [17], Starting on New Year's Day in 2012, Cheryl began writing one letter a day to Governor Rick Scott, asking him to either have another agency besides FDLE investigate or appoint a special prosecutor to do so. Denise Williams collected $1.75 million from her husband's three life insurance policies after she had him declared dead six months after he supposedly vanishedin December 2000 during a solo-duck hunting trip on Lake Seminole in Jackson County. Florida woman Denise Williams gets life in prison for masterminding her Denise got what she wanted after all. During the hearing Thursday, Denise Williams sister, daughter and friend testified asking for the minimum sentence of 21 months. No amount of good deeds can bring my husband back Mike back, she said. "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. Where Is Anslee Williams Today After What Happened To Her Parents? Her Just days before Christmas, Michelle Williams is left mourning the loss of her father, Dennis Williams. Denise Williams Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images "Our job was extremely difficult, and we were simply unable to develop enough evidence to proceed with the investigation," Schlein said. Family members of murder victim Jerry "Mike" Williams repeated a startling allegation against his widow Denise Williams on Wednesday. Her attorney argued before the Florida First District Court of Appeals that there was no evidence she was involved in the commission of the murder. Denise Williams, 48, was convicted in December for the murder of her husband, Mike Williams, 18 years after the young father disappeared while on a fishing trip in 2000. On the anniversary of Williams's disappearance that year, the Winchesters made one of their few public statements on the case: "For seven years we have prayed and hoped to find out with certainty what happened to Mike," Brian said in an email to the Democrat, and "Nobody wants Mike found more than we do." '"[16], It was suggested that perhaps Williams's 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 had left behind. Williams's Bronco and the boat had been returned to his family and friends, the footsteps of the many volunteers and searchers all over the lakeshore had made it impossible to collect any evidence from that area, and the items later recovered from the lake had not been retained. When the boat was recovered, its engine was off, yet the gas tank was full. In its non-prosecution statement, Fuchs said the primary purpose of the fraud case was to ensure Denise Williams did not and cannot profit from her husband's death. After rejecting plans for a murder at Mike's office meant to look like a robbery, Winchester hit on the idea of an apparent hunting accident after he saved Mike from quicksand when the two were hunting in Arkansas. QAnon dad who 'spear-gunned his kids fearing they had serpent DNA' could face the death penalty, Cops raid Florida 'drug house' and find enough fentanyl to kill 481k people inside after comic Kate Quigley's overdose.