Where is Denise Williams now? All about the Mr. & Mrs. Murder subject (and the twisty case of her...

It took over 15 years to solve the mysterious cold case of Mike Williams' murder. Where is Denise Williams now? All about the Mr. & Mrs. Murder subject (and the

It took over 15 years to solve the mysterious cold case of Mike Williams' murder.

Where is Denise Williams now? All about the Mr. & Mrs. Murder subject (and the twisty case of her husband's death)

It took over 15 years to solve the mysterious cold case of Mike Williams' murder.

By Randall Colburn

Randall Colburn

Randall Colburn is a former editor at **. He left EW in 2023.

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Published on July 31, 2025 09:00AM EDT

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Kathy and Denise, as seen on 'Mr. & Mrs. Murder'. Credit:

- The 2000 death of Mike Williams is the subject of a sordid new ABC News Studios docuseries, *Mr. & Mrs. Murder*.

- More than 15 years later, Mike's widow and best friend were charged with his murder.

- Denise Williams is currently serving a 30-year sentence for her role in the case.

The latest true-crime saga from ABC News Studios is *Mr. & Mrs. Murder*, now streaming on Hulu. The four-part docuseries dissects the 2000 death of 31-year-old Mike Williams, who was murdered by his best friend Brian Winchester amid an affair between Winchester and Mike's wife, Denise Williams.

That information, however, took more than 15 years to come to light. Mike's death was initially ruled an accidental drowning, despite the suspicion surrounding it. As *Mr. & Mrs. Murder* documents, it was the combined efforts of Mike's mother, Cheryl, and Winchester's ex-wife, Kathy Aldredge, that paved the way to justice.

While Winchester eventually confessed to the murder, questions remain about Denise's involvement — and the nature of both her and Winchester's sentences.

Below, we unpack the full story of Mike Williams' death, along with where Brian Winchester and Denise Williams are today.

Who is Denise Williams?

Denise and Mike Williams at their wedding, as seen on 'Mr. & Mrs. Murder'.

Denise Williams (née Merrell) met Mike Williams, Brian Winchester, and Kathy Aldredge (née Thomas) in high school. Denise and Kathy, both cheerleaders, went on to marry Mike and Brian, respectively, and remained friends in the years following college.

According to *Mr. & Mrs. Murder*, they were all raised in deeply Christian households, and in the years after college, began to rebel by going out to bars and partying. A schism formed in the friend group when Mike and Kathy each found themselves desiring children and domesticity. Brian and Denise, on the other hand, were enjoying their newfound revelry.

In 2018, Winchester testified that he and Denise began a romantic affair in October 1997, per the *Tallahassee Democrat*. Winchester claimed that he encouraged Denise to leave Mike, but that she refused to get divorced due to her religious beliefs. According to Winchester's testimony, as seen in the documentary, that "narrowed the options" for their future together.

Denise gave birth to her and Mike's daughter, Anslee, in 1999. She was 18 months old at the time of Mike's death.**

What happened to Mike Williams?

On Dec. 16, 2000, Mike disappeared after going on what was supposedly a solo duck hunting trip at Lake Seminole northwest of Tallahassee, Fla.

When he never returned, a 44-day search was conducted around Lake Seminole. Mike's car and boat were quickly discovered, but his body never turned up. Some assumed his body had been devoured by alligators, while others, like Mike's mother Cheryl, disputed that conclusion.

Six months later, a pair of waders and a jacket were discovered, along with Mike's hunting license. Despite there being no bite marks or indications of an alligator attack on the artifacts, a judge declared Mike to be legally dead at the request of Denise in the summer of 2001, per the *Democrat*.

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Some local investigators were uneasy with this decision. "My gut feeling is Mike did not die in Lake Seminole, which is the shared feeling of all law enforcement working this case," a former investigator with the Second Circuit State Attorney's Office who worked the case told the *Democrat* in 2006. "I would say this is a suspicious missing person."

The court's decision, however, allowed Denise to proceed with claims on Mike's life insurance policies, which amounted to $1.75 million, per the *Democrat*. And who sold him a life insurance policy? Winchester.

In 2005, Winchester and Denise got married.**

Mike's body wasn't found until October 2017, when it was dug up in north Leon County near Carr Lake, roughly 60 miles from Lake Seminole.**

What really happened to Mike Williams?

(L-R) Mike Williams; Brian Winchester.

Winchester later admitted in court that he accompanied Mike on the trip to Lake Seminole. After piloting their boat to a particularly deep part of the lake, Winchester pushed Mike into the water with the hope that Mike would drown.

During his 2018 testimony, Winchester claimed he and Denise began discussing a plot to murder Mike early in their affair. They preferred the idea of a drowning, he said, because they'd "feel better about ourselves if there was a chance that he could make it out of it. It will be up to God what happens, not us. It won't be a murder, it'll be an accident."

But Mike was able to remove his jacket and waders in the water and latch onto a floating tree. A panicked Winchester loaded his gun, piloted the boat to Mike, and shot him in the head. He then disposed of the body near Carr Lake.**

Brian Winchester and Denise Williams at their wedding in 2005.

Winchester went on to testify that he and Denise had made a pact to keep the murder a secret, thus directly implicating her in the planning and cover-up of Mike's murder.

He also discussed their anxieties about collecting on Mike's life insurance policies. "And so the concern between she and I then became, well, if his body's not found, what's going to happen with the life insurance?" Winchester testified. "Is she going to get the money or not?"

He added, "I felt like we needed to kind of lay low on that and not appear to be the eager widow ready to cash in her life insurance. I knew the longer it dragged out, the better it was going to be. We talked about that."**

How were Brian Winchester and Denise Williams caught?

Kathy Aldredge and Cheryl Williams, as seen on 'Mr. & Mrs. Murder'.

It took more than 15 years for Winchester and Denise's involvement in Mike's death to be revealed.

There were several contributing factors, including multiple law enforcement investigations, several investigative articles by *Tallahassee Democrat* reporter Jennifer Portman, relentless advocacy by Cheryl, and efforts from Aldredge, who secretly recorded conversations with both her ex-husband and Denise. Those recordings, which are a central facet of the *Mr. and Mrs. Murder *documentary, proved instrumental in Denise's conviction.

But what caused the dominoes to fall was Denise filing for divorce from Winchester in 2016. He later pleaded guilty to hiding in the back of her car with a gun and holding her against her will, saying it was the only way to speak with her since she wouldn't take his calls.

Denise managed to deescalate the situation by promising not to tell the police. But as soon as he left the car, she drove to the sheriff's office and reported the incident.

Winchester was arrested and charged with kidnapping, domestic assault, and armed burglary. The following December, he was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison. It was a relatively lenient sentence, as his charges of armed kidnapping could have put him away for life.

Well, there was a reason for that. In October 2017, two months before he was sentenced, Winchester accepted a plea deal with prosecutors that guaranteed he wouldn't get a life sentence for the kidnapping charge. It also offered immunity for any information on the death of Mike that would lead to a body or prosecution.

As part of this deal, Winchester revealed the location of Mike's body and testified to his murder while revealing Denise's role in helping to plan it.

Denise was arrested on May 8, 2019, the day of her and Mike's daughter's 19th birthday. She was charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and being an accessory after the fact.

When the case went to trial, attorneys for Denise argued there was no physical evidence linking her to the crime. She was nevertheless found guilty on all counts. In February 2019, she was sentenced to life in prison.**

Where is Denise Williams now?

Denise Williams' 2018 mug shot.

Leon County Clerk

Denise is currently serving a 30-year sentence at the Florida Women's Reception Center in Ocala, Fla.

She appealed her conviction and life sentence in January 2020, with her attorney arguing that the state had failed to provide evidence that Denise assisted in the "commission of this crime," per WCTV Tallahassee.

A panel of three judges with the Florida First District Court of Appeal agreed. According to WTXL Tallahassee, the judges declared that "Denise did not do or say anything to 'aid' or 'abet' Brian in the murder of Mike, as those terms originally were understood to mean; and she did not 'counsel,' 'hire,' or 'procure' Mike's murder beforehand (i.e., she did not get the ball rolling)."

As such, her first-degree murder conviction was reversed. The judges, however, maintained her conviction for conspiracy to commit murder.

A resentencing hearing was held in September 2021. There, Denise called the two years she'd spent in prison a "nightmare," but told Judge Kevin J. Carroll of her work in the prison's ministry and efforts to start a GED program, per the *Democrat*.

"I do want you to know that I have never and would never want anybody to be murdered," Denise said in her first public remarks in her own defense. "What I am guilty of is great moral failure in a time in my life when I chose to make decision that affected my friends and family. There is nothing I can do to bring Mike back to his grieving mom or brother. There's nothing I can do to bring his daughters' father back. If I could trade my life for his I would."

Mike and Denise's daughter, Anslee, also spoke in her mother's defense. The 22-year-old asked the judge for leniency. "There's no way my mother would conspire to kill my father with Brian," she said, adding that it was her belief Brian had "acted independently of her."

But Carroll nevertheless resentenced Denise to 30 years in prison, much more than her attorneys had hoped. Responding to a claim by the defense that Denise played only a "minor" role in Mike's death, Carroll disagreed. "I don't find she was a relatively minor participant in the conspiracy to kill Mike Williams," he told the court. "Mrs. Williams could have stopped this on December 16."

The sentence came as a relief to Mike's mother, Cheryl. "I'd been so scared that she would get out. I believe Michael can rest in peace now," she told the *Democrat*. "Michael loved her. Michael loved Brian. Michael was a good person. He did not know what they were doing. He had no idea."

In 2021, the Florida Attorney General's office asked the Florida Supreme Court to review the decision to reverse the conviction, but the Supreme Court declined the request.**

Where is Brian Winchester now?

Winchester is serving out his 20-year sentence at the Madison Correctional Institution in Madison, Fla.

Where can I watch Mr. & Mrs. Murder?

'Mr. & Mrs. Murder'.

*Mr. & Mrs. Murder* is now available to stream on Hulu.**

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