The Alligator Theory:Mike Williams·Brian Winchester·Denise Williams

On December 16, 2000, his sixth wedding anniversary, thirty-one-year-old Mike Williams went duck hunting on Lake Seminole, near the Florida–Georgia line, and never came back. His boat and gear were found, but he was not. Investigators settled on a simple explanation: he had fallen in, drowned, and been taken by alligators.

Mike’s mother, Cheryl Williams, never believed it. For more than a decade she pushed investigators, wrote letters and refused to let the case close. The official story began to fall apart when Brian Winchester, Mike’s best friend, came under scrutiny. Winchester had been having a long affair with Mike’s wife, Denise, and the two had married after Mike disappeared. There was also a life insurance policy.

In 2017, while facing a long prison sentence for kidnapping Denise at gunpoint the year before, Winchester confessed. He said he had shot Mike on the lake and buried his body about forty miles away. His information led investigators to the remains. Denise Williams was convicted in 2018 of first-degree murder and related charges. In 2021 an appeals court overturned the murder conviction but upheld the conspiracy conviction, and she was resentenced to 30 years in prison.