thats in her life. dennis murphy: terrible loss, certainly, with your uncle but its primary victim here in a way seems to be siena. amber fluitt: i would say so. tiffany and josh and myself, too, we got to live our childhood with him. we got to go to him for advice and to share those milestones in life with him. what about siena? my dad is still here, you know, and hers is not. craig melvin: that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. [music playing] hello, i'm andrea canning, and this is "dateline."ct a.

even though you were hopeful, you knew. as soon as you hung up the phone, you knew. how does anybody look at somebody drowning and not help them? how do you do that? a perfect husband, a perfect father, a perfect mystery. they found the boat. mike wasn't in it. we thought maybe he's had an accident. the thought is the alligators have eaten mike. but this lake was hiding more than gators. mike was the only hunter that had gone overboard in that lake that had never been found. something don't add up. people were saying, well, i bet he ran off. there have just been so many wild stories. two lovers share a secret. he had this desire to have her. there was an affair happening for years. they can choose each other-- you're waiting for that crack. obviously she knew what happened to him. she had to know. or choose the truth. finally we're going to find out what really happened.

maybe justice will be served. hello and welcome to "dateline." mike williams doted on his wife denise and their baby girl. the perfect husband, he had a successful career, cooked, and cleaned. friends even joked they would love to have a mike williams of their own. then suddenly mike disappeared. was it a tragic accident? one of the people who knew him best believed something more sinister was at play and would stop at nothing to uncover the truth. here is dennis murphy with "secrets of lake seminole." dennis murphy: lake seminole, an hour outside florida state capital, is deep south. fishing, hunting country with spanish moss on the oaks. in season, the duck hunters are out before dawn, and it was there in the year 2000 on a december morning

an experienced outdoorsman named mike williams went duck hunting. it was the 30-year-old hunter's sixth wedding anniversary, and there'd be a stay at a romantic b&b that evening. but the morning hours were his to hunt. christie garrett: that was his outlet. that was what he enjoyed. dennis murphy: the thing is he never came back. seemed to simply vanish. his wife denise called around to family. it was already late afternoon when mike's brother nick got the worrying news. there was gonna be a search already starting over at lake seminole, so we called a friend of ours and we went together. dennis murphy: mike's co-worker christie garrett. mike is very skilled. i mean, he is a very skilled hunter, and we thought maybe he's had an accident. dennis murphy: as a cold front moved in, a formal search began on the 30,000-acre lake. one member of the search party arrived early and stayed late. it was mike's best friend going back to school

days, brian winchester. he and his dad using a spotlight made the first big discovery. brian winchester had found the boat. mike wasn't in it. his decoys were all in the boat, which, of course, let everybody think obviously he'd never got started hunting that morning. what picture came together for you at that point? well, i think i was like everybody else, worried that he might have fallen out. it's clay. dennis murphy: mike's boss clay ketcham. brian stood with me, and any time they would come up with a potential hit, brian said i just don't want to be here when they find mike. dennis murphy: man-made lake seminole can be treacherous for boaters. it was a one-time peach orchard before it was flooded, and tree stumps lurk just below the surface. at night, these are very hard to see. dennis murphy: fish and wildlife officer david arnette was at the scene. you hit a stump, and you could be thrown out very easily. dennis murphy: they didn't have a body, but there was an early theory among seasoned hunters about

what might have happened. mike in the predawn hour had hit a stump and been thrown into the weed-filled lake. like most duck hunters he was known to wear chest high waders, and they could turn deadly just like that. david arnette: waders are bulky. they're basically like putting two buckets on your legs. you got problems with them filling up with water and taking you down. dennis murphy: and what was down there everybody knew were alligators. hard to think of such an awful end for a nice hard-working husband and father like mike williams. popular mind the gators got him, huh? clay ketcham: yes. your heart is kind of in your stomach. it's kind of gripped by that-- just the sheer awfulness of it. dennis murphy: but there was a big problem with the gator theory. with such unusually cold temperatures, fish and wildlife officers like alton ranew knew the alligators weren't stirring much. alton ranew: his metabolism is down so low, he don't wanna eat. they're like a bear. they go into hibernation. dennis murphy: then on the 10th day of searching,

officer ranew found a hunter's hat floating on the water. brian, the best friend, thought it looked familiar. he comes up out here to the tent and shows us a photograph with mike with that hat on. dennis murphy: surely that hat was as good as evidence that mike had had an accident and drowned in lake seminole. mike's co-workers liz boyette and christie garrett felt hope slip away. when did you both realize that this was it? i think we all knew that something had happened. christie garrett: true. after a few weeks had passed, we knew that mike wasn't coming back. dennis murphy: months went by with no sign of mike, and then in june, something of mike's did literally surface that made people wonder, his chest high waders. alton ranew: the waders didn't have the slime that lake seminole will produce if you put something out there three or four days. it's gonna be slimy. dennis murphy: they were as clean as this new pair and showed no sign of a gator attack.

we found no indication of any bite marks on the waders, no indication of any human remains whatsoever. dennis murphy: traces of mike but still no body. and how unusual that was for a lake not to give up its dead. nick williams: mike at that point was the only hunter fisherman that had gone overboard in that lake that had never been found. dennis murphy: fish and wildlife officers were confounded. eventually the case of the missing boater was handed off to local sheriff's detectives to investigate. i remember telling some of the guys-- investigators we might wanna look into this a little deeper 'cause something don't add up. one year after mike goes missing, his wife denise visits the lake for a final goodbye. coming up-- patti ketcham: she had a flower with her, and she'd written mike a note. andrea canning: and there is growing suspicion this wasn't an accident. no. uh uh. something is wrong here. andrea canning: when "dateline" continues.

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just absolutely delightful. absolutely delightful. dennis murphy: after attending a private christian high school, the two graduated from hometown florida state university and got married. their baby girl anslee was born on mother's day. denise was a cpa. mike meanwhile had become an ace real estate appraiser in his hometown tallahassee. mike's boss clay ketcham was amazed that despite the 15-hour days mike put in at the office, he always made time to take care of the home front. made sure that dinner was ready, laundry got going. so he's mr. mom. clay ketcham: he's mr. mom. we all said we wanted to be married to mike williams. i mean, we all needed a mike williams in our life. dennis murphy: mike's co-workers took mischievous delight in wondering what denise had in store for him when she called him at the office. i'm across the street please. i need gas. - come pump my gas. liz boyette: yeah. he worked upstairs, so you hear this bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam down the steps. i guess denise needs gas. i guess denise needs gas.

dennis murphy: but now with mike gone, denise would be the sole provider for their young daughter. fortunately mike had several hefty insurance policies. you have a small child and a wife to take care of, sure. yeah, you need to get insurance, you know. dennis murphy: brian, mike's best friend and an insurance broker himself, helped denise navigate the claims process. for as long as most people could remember, denise and mike and brian and his wife kathy had been couples together. they all attended that private christian high school, married their high school sweethearts, and had children about the same time. and then came lake seminole. after a year had gone by since mike disappeared, denise asked patti to take her to the lake. patti ketcham: she told me how she had been going to a christian counselor, and he had encouraged her to do this. and she had a flower with her, and she'd written mike a note. and i guess probably 30, 45 minutes later, she came back, and she'd been crying.

the flower and the letter in particular. those were left at the lake. dennis murphy: gone but definitely not forgotten according to becky maas, denise's friend and co-worker. she loved him like a woman would love your life partner, your soulmate. dennis murphy: the official death certificate said mike drowned while duck hunting, but for mike's family and friends, doubts started creeping in spurred on by little things that just didn't add up like those waders found six months after mike disappeared. they looked almost pristine. no. uh uh. something is wrong here. staged? clay ketcham: i thought staged because i know that anything left in a lake for any period of time is gonna have algae on it. dennis murphy: speculation gave way to suspicion. could mike's disappearance be the result of foul play? enter the wild card, the squeakiest of squeaky wheels, mike williams' mother who simply was not buying the official story that mike, an experienced outdoorsmen, had an accident on that lake.

mike is not in lake seminole. he did not drown. he did not get eaten by alligators. dennis murphy: some called cheryl williams with her pigtails eccentric, even crazy. but she demanded answers, appealing first to the media, and when she didn't get any results, she opened her purse and spent money she really couldn't afford. cheryl williams: i take out an ad in "the tallahassee democrat," and i ask the public to help me find my son. there was a $1,200 ad. dennis murphy: earnings from the daycare center she operated out of her home. cheryl williams: you have to change a lot of diapers to pay for an ad that expensive, but it got publicity. some of the daycare center kids, now all grown like marya denmark, remembered making missing person posters. i was only six years old when mike went missing. i remember somebody would draw out mike's name and missing and then we would fill it in with, like, a black sharpie.

dennis murphy: ms. cheryl, as she became known, was a one-woman campaign. she wrote letters to the governor every day for years, 2,600 in all. she paid for billboards and stood outside churches with posters. cheryl williams: the ministers would get mad because i was outside their church. ms. williams, why don't you leave? dennis murphy: cheryl didn't. you were getting a reputation around town as this kind of batty lady with the pigtails out there with her signs and the billboards and the letters to the editor, and you became famous. everybody called me crazy. dennis murphy: but not everybody. police began to take cheryl seriously after years of her struggling to draw attention to mike's case. will mickler: ms. cheryl is a straight shooter, and she tells it like it is. dennis murphy: will mickler is an agent with the fdle, the florida department of law enforcement, a top cops agency with statewide jurisdiction. four years after mike went missing, they agreed to take the case.

if it wasn't for ms. cheryl, this case would have never gotten into the hands of criminal investigators. dennis murphy: but mike's widow denise didn't appreciate what cheryl was doing. cheryl williams: she's upset because she and her daddy said it was an invasion of their privacy. dennis murphy: denise's friend becky maas in her defense said denise told cheryl to stop all the noise because it was confusing her daughter. mrs. williams had very strong feelings that mike was still alive, and she was telling that to the little girl when by all accounts, he was not. nick and i never told anslee that her daddy was alive. never. dennis murphy: then denise upped the ante, laying down a demand to her mother-in-law. stop raising a ruckus or cheryl would never see her granddaughter anslee again. so she followed through with her promise. and your granddaughter's gone. cheryl williams: totally gone out of my life.

but i couldn't stop. i had to find out what happened to mike. dennis murphy: and that smoldering stalemate between cheryl and denise held fast as the years went by. in time, denise williams began dating, even thinking about marriage with one of her suitors. but soon the rumor mill would be abuzz with a more sensational take on denise's love life. andrea canning: coming up-- nick williams: all of a sudden, we find out she's dating brian winchester. andrea canning: shocking to some, suspicious to others-- it's just-- it's so creepy. andrea canning: when "dateline" continues. on medicare? living with diabetes? progress is having your coffee like you like it without an audience. ♪♪ [silence] the freestyle libre 3 plus sensor can help lower your a1c over time. covered by medicare for more people

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days watch. >> i'm going to be here five days a week again. >> read and listen. >> staying up half the night reading executive orders. >> for this defining time in the >> for this defining time in the second trump presidenc dennis murphy: duck seasons came and went as the years rolled by. long after mike williams's ill-fated hunting trip, denise was working for the state as an accountant, a young widow raising her daughter anslee. she'd started dating again, and one day there was a new man in her life, someone with a very familiar name. and then all of a sudden, we find out she's dating brian winchester. dennis murphy: brian, mike's best friend and fishing and hunting buddy. since their days as a happy foursome in high school and beyond, brian and his wife kathy had gotten a divorce. friend becky maas said brian wasn't denise's first relationship after mike. denise dated other people. so she didn't fly right into his arms? no. i mean, she had reservations for a while. he really kind of had to prove himself

to her in terms of where he was at with his christianity. dennis murphy: nonetheless, this was a juicy tidbit, mike's best friend hooking up with the widow of the man who disappeared. it didn't take the court of public opinion long to do the math. could brian have had anything to do with mike's disappearance, and what did denise know? those coffee shop conspiracies took wing when five years after mike's disappearance, brian married denise. mike's old boss and his wife were invited to the wedding. they'd heard the rumors, too. clay ketcham: the minister got up and said there is nothing that i don't know between the two of them. and patti and i kind of punched each other in the ribs and said, well, there might be one little piece of information that he is not aware of. dennis murphy: brian moved into the same house mike and denise had lived in together and began raising mike's daughter. what really bothered me the most was the fact that they stayed in mike's house. raising that child.

clay ketcham: raising the child and assumes the role of-- dennis murphy: takes over his life. takes over his life. it's just-- it's so creepy. dennis murphy: for cheryl, the marriage seemed to corroborate long-running suspicions that she'd worked like a sick tooth. she'd kept a detailed notebook about mike's disappearance, and brian and denise were filling more and more pages in it. she alerted investigator mike devaney from the fdle about her suspicions and shared a 27-page summary of her notes. she was a good source of information, and she was-- she was a real bulldog on this. dennis murphy: like this item, cheryl noted. remember those insurance policies mike bought? they were worth $1.75 million, and it was brian who actually sold mike a large part of them. and those waders that surfaced after mike went missing were used by denise's lawyer as evidence to declare mike dead in just seven months so she could collect her money. that's better than icing on the cake if you're-- if one of your goals is to get the woman,

you also get the money. that was all that i really needed to know. dennis murphy: but the authorities needed much more than idle gossip. tully sparkman, an investigator for the prosecutor's office, worked the case for 10 long years. are suspicions getting grounded in the relationship between denise and brian, or was it in the money trail or what? it was all of it. i mean, it's a cumulative thing. you start looking at, you know, the odd fact that the body never floated, the waders popping up, the money. dennis murphy: so the investigators kept their eyes on the married couple, brian and denise, and bided their time. if either one of them was harboring a secret involving foul play, eventually it might have a corrosive effect on their relationship. tully sparkman: well, they're not gonna turn on each other while they're married. but then you're waiting on things to flare up. dennis murphy: and in 2012, seven years into their marriage, they did flare up. brian moved out. denise wanted a divorce, but brian managed to put it off for years. so the marriage was finished at that point?

i would say that. dennis murphy: in august 2016, brian did something that nearly ended very badly for denise. the wild episodes started one morning as denise got in her car to go to work. hiding in the back seat, brian popped up shoved a gun in her ribs and said drive. denise managed to pull into a shopping center parking lot where she talked brian into letting her go. she promised she wouldn't tell police, but after brian left, she did report her abduction. denise said an unhinged brian, upset about the divorce, even threatened to take his own life. many times. >> i'm g as denise relived the horror of the day, little did she know that in an adjoining room, an fdle agent was listening. he wasn't interested in some high-voltage

domestic quarrel. he wanted to know about mike's disappearance and what brian had to do with it and what denise might know. denise's already very bad day was about to get infinitely worse. andrea canning: coming up-- so many secrets, what was the truth? when "dateline" continues. touch can mean so many things. even for people with moderate-to-severe eczema. touch can make two feel like one. or simply be a helping hand. dupixent can help you stay ahead of eczema as you welcome the feeling of touch. dupixent helps block a key source of inflammation inside the body that can cause eczema to help heal your skin from within. many adults saw 90% clearer skin.

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supplies to the territory. in response, hamas said both actions constitute a full actions constitute a full fledged war crime. for n welcome back to "dateline." i'm andrea canning. it had been more than a decade since mike williams vanished. his wife denise remarried, building a new life with his best friend brian winchester. investigators suspected the two were behind mike's disappearance, but without evidence, their hands were tied until that is a scary incident involving a gun threatened to blow the couple's marriage apart. denise ran to police, but they had something else they wanted to discuss. back to dennis murphy with "secrets of lake seminole." dennis murphy: denise williams had been carjacked at gunpoint by her estranged husband brian winchester, and now she was sitting in a police interview room giving her version of the abduction.

but police believe brian wasn't going to kill just himself, especially after denise told them he'd brought along a tarp and bleach as well as the gun. for years, police felt that brian and denise were the keys to understanding mike's disappearance, and now with the kidnapping, they believe brian was taking no chances in getting rid of the one person who might know what he had done. the detective pressed her, asking denise if she really knew the man she'd married. and that's who he was. >> then he has. >> conned you to no end. it's not your fault. >> i mean, that person today could have done anything, you could have done anything, you know,

mike devaney, the fdle lead agent, couldn't believe denise was finally being questioned about what happened to mike. fdle agents had approached brian and denise on one occasion, and they both refused to talk. they went straight to an attorney, and that was that. dennis murphy: devaney had waited a long time for this moment. now it was his turn to enter the room and find out what denise knew. have no idea. >> you don't really believe he. >> you don't really believe he. >> died at on the denise tried to steer the interview back to the kidnapping. devaney kept pushing, telling denise if she didn't talk,

he might get the story from someone else. because when he's arrested, i'm going to talk to him, too. >> that's fine. >> that's fine. >> see what he for now, the mystery of mike's disappearance remained just that. but brian was arrested and charged with kidnapping denise. he pleaded not guilty to those charges. but a year later, he changed his plea to no contest. it comes down to my life or his, and i am asking you please to choose mine. dennis murphy: at sentencing, denise appealed to the judge to give him a life sentence. he will finish what he has started no matter what age he is when he is released. i'm asking you to sentence him to life in prison for the crimes he has committed. dennis murphy: in the end, the judge gave brian winchester 20 years. in court, nothing had been said about mike williams.

clay ketcham: when they shuffled him off, we walked out and i looked to patti and i said, well, that's it. the door has just been slammed on whatever happened to mike, and we will never know. dennis murphy: but the next day, fdle had a major announcement. they'd found a skeletal body in a shallow grave. the human remains are those of mike williams. dennis murphy: after all those years, it was over. police were mum on how they'd found mike's body, but speculation was that brian had led them to it. further forensic analysis concluded that mike williams was, in fact, murdered. dennis murphy: and his body wasn't in lake seminole after all. it was 50 miles away back in tallahassee off a dead end road by another swampy lake. i said he can't be dead. he can't be. and they said it's mike. i said you know that, and they said yes. we've done all the dna. dennis murphy: fdle agent will mickler broke the news to denise.

i saw her tear up when the death notification was provided to her that mike williams remains had been identified and located. dennis murphy: now you'd think with the recovery of the body, murder charges would be filed forthwith, but that didn't happen. detectives continued to investigate. they had another suspect in their sights and what a sensation that turned out to be. five months after mike's body was recovered, a perp walk to remember. denise williams, in handcuffs being marched by cops from her office at florida state university. she was charged with the first degree murder of her first husband, mike. it was her daughter anslee's 19th birthday. the indictment said that denise had conspired with brian winchester to kill his best friend mike. she pleaded not guilty. but denise was the only one charged. what about brian? they told us that they had had to make a deal with the devil.

dennis murphy: some called it the deal of the century. really what they wanted was information of what happened to mike, where the body was. dennis murphy: his attorney tim jansen said prosecutors had but one priority, to find mike's body. tim jansen: they never said to him you have to give any evidence against denise. dennis murphy: but he would. in exchange for his testimony against denise, brian got 20 years for the kidnapping and would not face murder charges. bailiff: the state of florida versus denise williams-- dennis murphy: almost 18 years after mike williams disappeared, denise went on trial. she faced a mandatory life sentence if convicted. prosecutors had a lineup of witnesses-- fdle agents, fish and wildlife officers, and mike's mother with her head barely showing above the witness box. and the jury met brian's first wife, kathy. attorney: did you suspect that brian winchester, your husband, was having an affair with denise williams? i did suspect that. dennis murphy: suspicions that were confirmed after brian

asked her to join them in a threesome at a beach condo before the murder. there were snapshots with partial nudity. kathy also said denise tried to involve her in a cover up after brian's arrest. to get a message to brian that i'm not talking. dennis murphy: but those witnesses were merely the side dishes to the state's main course, the mesmerizing confession of brian winchester. it was a stunning story of betrayals, a wife betraying her husband, her lover betraying his best friend. i had my gun in the boat-- dennis murphy: and a confession from the stand you'll never be able to unhear. andrea canning: coming up, after so many years, finally the truth-- we wanted to be together, and we weren't gonna let anything stop that. andrea canning: when "dateline" continues. with dulcolax.

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>> it's president trump's first 100 days, and rachel maddow and alex wagner will be bringing clarity to the policies being implemented. alex will be in the field reporting from the front lines. >> what issue matters to you the most? >> and rachel will be hosting five nights a week. >> important stories are going to be told through field work and frontline reporting about the consequences of government action. >> alex wagner, reporting from across the country and the rachel maddow show weeknights at rachel maddow show weeknights at 9:00 on dennis murphy: denise williams was standing trial for first degree murder, conspiring in the death of her first husband mike. and who was she accused of conspiring with? why her now ex-husband number two and mike's best friend brian winchester. he would be the state's star witness against her, required to testify to every grisly detail. prosecutors jon fuchs and andy rogers knew their star witness came with some baggage. you guys have to worry whether the jury is going to hate

your star witness, brian? there's no question they were gonna hate him. that from day one was obvious. we hate him. they walk out, they don't believe brian winchester, she walks. dennis murphy: now here he was, brian winchester looking haggard and drawn after almost two years in jail on the kidnapping charge about to tell his story of duck hunting, sex, and murder. we connected like nobody else. dennis murphy: brian said he and denise had been secret lovers for three years before mike williams was murdered. the more we were together, the more we wanted to be together. it just snowballed. dennis murphy: so fast that within two years, denise and brian were plotting mike's so-called accident on lake seminole. i think there was even talk about, you know, it'll be up to god what happens and not us. it won't be a murder. it'll be, you know, an accident. dennis murphy: to most people, divorce would have been a better solution. but brian said denise, a devout christian, didn't want to endure the stigma. brian winchester: because of the way she was raised, because of her pride,

i guess she did not want to get divorced. i mean, we wanted to be together, and we weren't gonna let anything stop that. dennis murphy: better to be a killer than a divorcee? a widow gets sympathy, and on top of that, she gets $1.75 million. dennis murphy: so the weekend of the wedding anniversary became d-day. brian testified mike was not hunting alone. he was along as his early morning duck hunting buddy. they pushed off. the plan was to make it look like mike drowned in a boating accident. the murder weapon would be mike's waders. brian winchester: we believed that if you fell overboard with the waders on that you would sink pretty quickly. we got to that area that i knew was a deep area. i basically stopped the boat and got him to stand up, and when he did, i pushed him into the water. he was in the water, and he was, like, struggling.

i pulled off just a little bit to get kind of away from him so that he couldn't reach back into the boat. and i didn't know it at the time, i didn't know if he was trying to swim or i didn't know what was going on, but what i came to find out or eventually realized was he was taken the waders and the jacket off. dennis murphy: mike made it to a tree stump and clung for dear life. that's when brian decided to change the plan. he was panicking, and i was panicking. and none of this was, like, going with how i thought it was gonna go. he was-- he started to yell. [sobbing] and so i had my gun in the boat. [sobbing]

and so i loaded my gun, and i just-- i made one or two circles around. and i ended up circling closer towards him. he was in the water, and as i passed by, i shot him. in the head. dennis murphy: autopsy x-rays showed buckshot throughout mike's head. as the details emerged in court, cheryl was struck yet another blow. what's hard for me now is what i found out in court was how he was murdered. it's a horrible story. they told me the only consolation i could have was that michael didn't feel it. he was dead immediately.

dennis murphy: brian said after blasting mike with his 12 gauge, he grabbed his lifeless body and steered the boat to shore. and i pushed the boat back out into the water to make it look like he had drowned or disappear. dennis murphy: on shore, he stuffed mike's body into a dog crate in the back of his truck and drove back to tallahassee where he found an isolated area to bury his friend. later that day when brian got a call from his father saying mike was missing, the two drove to lake seminole. there was a storm that came through that night. you know, my dad wanted to look at it. i think we were the last ones on the lake, and my dad didn't wanna give up. my dad loved mike. dennis murphy: with no body ever found in the lake, brian testified they grew concerned about their other incentive to murder mike. the concern between she and i then became, well,

if his body is not found, what's going to happen with the life insurance. dennis murphy: brian admitted to staging the hat found 10 days into the search. i was the one that put it in the water during one of my searches on the lake to kind of confirm that he had drowned. and for the next 16 years, brian said he and denise kept a mafia-like oath of silence. it is riveting testimony, this first-person story of taking a best friend out and killing him. there's so much emotion tied up in that. i've heard the story multiple times. i still feel the emotion. and you can tell from the jurors that they're on the edge of their seat. they're engrossed in what he's saying, and they're waiting for the next line. and they're seeing someone who's laying their soul bare for everything out there. dennis murphy: it was strong, emotional testimony, but would it be strong enough to convict? that would be for the jury to say. now defense attorney ethan way rose

with his goal set upon demolishing the star witness's credibility. sir winchester, you're a murderer. isn't it true? andrea canning: coming up, will there finally be justice for mike? we didn't have a slam dunk case. we the jury find as follows-- does it come to a matter of jurors? it's he said, she said. pick one. yes. andrea canning: when "dateline" continues. we're in a limestone cave, letting extreme residue build up to put finish jet dry to the test. dishwashers are designed to use jet dry to defend against tough residues for a practically spotless shine. 60% of women experience leaks with bladder protection pads. try always discreet! it locks leaks in seconds to keep you drier and bunches 25% less often than poise. try always discreet! it's designed to protect. (♪♪) ♪ (slow down) ♪

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welcome back. denise williams was on trial for the murder of her first husband mike. prosecutors argued that while she did not pull the trigger, denise hatched the deadly plan with her lover, mike's best friend brian winchester. in riveting testimony, brian spilled every chilling detail of mike's execution, but the defense was about to come out swinging and the convicted felons credibility would be their number one target. here is dennis murphy with the conclusion of "secrets of lake seminole." dennis murphy: the prosecution case would live or die by its star witness. would jurors believe brian winchester? does it comes to a matter of jurors? it's he said, she said. pick one. - yes. who do you believe? i believe her every day twice on sunday. i had my gun in the boat. dennis murphy: brian's chilling account of murdering his best friend in a plot with mike's wife denise was an award-worthy performance

thought denise's attorney ethan way, compelling that is if you were a sucker for crocodile tears. he is a well-rehearsed, well-trained, well-timed liar. dennis murphy: denise's defense boiled down to brian being an obsessed lone wolf. he coveted denise. he had this desire to have her. dennis murphy: the defense said he was the only killer. she had nothing to do with his murderous craziness. in cross-examination, the defense wanted jurors to see that brian's only goal was to save his own bacon by implicating denise. and for his efforts, he wasn't charged with murder and got just 20 years in prison for kidnapping her. ethan way: you got to jail on august 5, 2016, on the charges of armed kidnapping. you didn't straight away go to law enforcement and volunteer the details of the mike williams murder, did you? absolutely not. ethan way: in fact, while you were in jail, you decided you were gonna take certain steps to try to frustrate the prosecution

of the armed kidnapping case. isn't that true? yes, sir. i was desperate to do anything that i possibly could to avoid going to prison. dennis murphy: like having a discussion with one jail inmate who offered to kill denise and get others to lie in his kidnapping case. he did offer to make denise go away and make other witnesses in the case go away, and i said don't ever speak to me of that again. ethan way: so you were drawing a line at having witnesses eliminated? yes, sir. ethan way: you were not drawing the line at having witness testimony and other evidence fabricated? correct. dennis murphy: with the possibility of new charges for witness tampering, the defense said that's when brian agreed to a deal. in exchange for his deal, he has to throw her under the bus. he has to deliver. well, he has to deliver, but he also gets a revenge element. denise is the one that turned him in. if denise williams was involved in this murder in any way, why would she take the one person that can incriminate her and turn him into law enforcement

and have him locked up? dennis murphy: as for the actual murder, the defense got brian to admit it was he and he alone pulling the trigger. denise was an hour away at home in tallahassee with the baby. ethan way: when you shot mike williams at lake seminole with a 12-gauge shotgun, was denise williams standing there with you? no, she wasn't. she was in my head behind me. ethan way: is it fair to say that over the years you've been obsessed with denise williams? obsessed? denise and i were best friends. we were bonnie and clyde. we were partners in crime. dennis murphy: then why the defense asked was his bonnie in the dark about what actually happened at the lake? ethan way: denise williams had no idea that you shot her husband in the face with a shotgun, did she? correct. i tried to tell her about it one day, and she did not want to know the details. she told me that she assumed that what we had planned

did not happen and god was gonna forgive us. dennis murphy: in the end, the defense attorney got brian to tell jurors exactly why they should not believe him. ethan way: sir winchester, you're a murderer. isn't it true? yes, sir. ethan way: mr. winchester, you're a liar. isn't it true? yes, sir. dennis murphy: you got him to say yes to both of those things. i have probably in 20 years never had a witness come right out and say boldly and emphatically that they are a liar. dennis murphy: in his final remarks to the jury, attorney ethan way argued if you exclude brian's lying testimony, you're left with nothing forensically evidentially tying denise to the murder. this case is only about brian winchester. it is only about him killing mike williams. it is only about him doing the most heinous thing that can be done. dennis murphy: in his closing remarks, prosecutor fuchs pointed to denise. that one person sat here and listened to brian winchester describe how she had-- how he had shot and killed her

husband, the man she supposedly loved and cherished absolute stone faced. didn't bat an eye. didn't shed a tear. dennis murphy: with that, the jury had the case. and remember a point easy to lose sight of, it was denise on trial for murder, not brian. the waiting began. did you feel pretty good about things? i was feeling pretty confident. i mean, i wasn't 100% sure either, like, we didn't have a slam dunk case. there is no evidence. there is no proof. she did nothing wrong. she just has the story told by the ex-husband. exactly. dennis murphy: late that night about eight hours into deliberations, a verdict. cheryl had waited 18 years for this moment. foreperson: state of florida versus denise williams-- dennis murphy: cheryl's jaw dropped when she heard the decision. foreperson: we the jury find the defendant is guilty of first degree murder. dennis murphy: guilty on all counts.

tell me what's going on with you. we got justice for mike, and this was about justice for mike. he loved denise. his wedding ring was on his hand when they found his remains. dennis murphy: the murder conviction meant a mandatory life sentence for denise williams. she also received 30 years for conspiring with brian winchester to commit the crime. then nearly two years later, a three judge appellate court threw out the first degree murder conviction, finding the state failed to prove denise actively participated in the crime at the time it occurred. her conviction for conspiracy to commit murder stands, and denise williams remains in prison. cheryl, this is an important day as we sit here, isn't it? this is an anniversary day. yes, sir. it's the 18th anniversary of mike's disappearance. now that i now know that it's his murder. what'd you learn about yourself

in the midst of all this. i do believe in what's right and i will stand up and i will fight for that. dennis murphy: despite the conviction, cheryl said her fight isn't quite yet over. what was once a struggle to find out what happened to her son is now a struggle to return her estranged granddaughter anslee back to the family, that child who lost so much one blustery day long ago, a father and now in slow motion justice a mother, too. lust and greed setting a banquet of sorrow for all. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm andrea canning. thank you for watching. [music playing] hello, i'm andrea canning, and tshe was brave.ne." she was incredibly brave. why didn't i know that she needed me