TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida woman convicted of being an accessory to the murder of her husband more than two decades ago was sentenced to 30 years in prison Thursday after an earlier life sentence was overturned on appeal.
A Leon County district judge imposed the sentence on Denise Williams, rejecting her attorney’s arguments that she was only a minor participant in the conspiracy to kill her husband, the Tallahassee Democrat reported. Williams, 51, was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in 2018. The 1st District Court of Appeals last fall overturned the first-degree murder conviction, meaning a resentencing was required on the conspiracy charge.
Mike Williams, a 31-year-old real estate appraiser, disappeared in December 2000 during what was believed to be a solo duck hunting trip to a lake in Jackson County. Some initially speculated that he had fallen from his boat and his body had been eaten by alligators. His disappearance sparked a major search by authorities.
But Brian Winchester, Mike Williams’ best friend, said he and Denise Williams had an affair and planned the murder so Denise Williams could collect $2 million from her life insurance policy.
Winchester said he intended to make it look like Williams had drowned. But after pushing him overboard, Williams was not pulled underwater by his duck hunting gear. So Winchester shot him in the face with a 12-gauge shotgun. He then dragged his body to shore, put it in the back of his truck and drove back to Tallahassee. He finally buried him later that day at a small lake north of the city.
With no body left, Denise Williams filed a petition to have her husband declared dead by drowning. Winchester and Denise Williams married in 2005, but their relationship fell apart and they divorced in 2016.
The case came to light after Winchester kidnapped Denise Williams at gunpoint in 2016, authorities said. He eventually made a deal with prosecutors and was sentenced to 20 years in prison for that crime. He later led authorities to Mike Williams’ remains and testified against Denise Williams in exchange for immunity in that case.
