From TDO:
Mike Williams’ body was found Oct. 18, buried in six feet of muck near the primitive boat landing at the dead end of Gardner Road in north Leon County, a law enforcement source told the Tallahassee Democrat.
FDLE officials would not confirm how Williams was killed, only that evidence proved conclusively he was murdered. The source said his body and clothing were still intact. He was wearing cold weather gloves on his hands and outdoor booties on his feet.
On Oct. 12, acting on new information, FDLE investigators began work to excavate Gardner Road landing. Leon County Public Works officials first cleared the heavily wooded area of trees and installed water dams and pumps to hold back adjacent Carr Lake.
They were looking not far from where 10 years ago this week, Tallahassee Police confidential informant Rachel Hoffman was killed. When that drug sting went fatally wrong, Mike Williams’ body had been buried there for nearly eight years.
For the next five days, county workers, FDLE investigators, cadaver dogs and their handlers – about 30 people and dogs in all – worked up to 16 hours a day sifting and searching through thick mud, dumping scoop after backhoe scoop onto 10 huge sheets of plywood.
A few neighbors ventured near the area, curious what was going on, but they were satisfied with the explanation that all the activity was just part of a training exercise.
“How was it kept a secret? By the grace of God,” the law enforcement source said. “There is literally no other explanation.”
Not even the workers operating the machinery knew initially what they were looking for. Just the man running the bucket figured it out by the end. They were digging for that boy who’d gone missing while hunting all those years ago.
The work was arduous. Holding back the lake was a constant challenge. Water moccasins and eels menaced the 9-foot deep holes that quickly filled with murky water.
“It was a nasty, wicked place,” the source said.
By Oct 18, Public Works officials were ready to call it quits. FDLE was set to hire a private company to continue the work when they finally found Williams. Two DNA tests proved it was him.
“About 98 percent of his bones were recovered,” said the source. The remains were “very well preserved.”
This will make for some devastating courtroom testimony. I am sure there is photographic and video footage to reflect all of it. I doubt that Denise was personally involved in dumping and burying the body, but she is going to be painted with a VERY ugly brush at trial. All of this to recover on some life insurance policies, and-or to formalize a relationship with hubby’s (alleged) best friend?? Wow. Jury is going to hate that witch.
