NAPLES — It’s been five years since Marcia Williams last spoke with her son.
It’s been half a decade since they last went to a movie together; half a decade since she last took him out to eat. It’s been five years since Terrance Williams last joked with his mother while they were at the mall that he couldn’t be seen with her, lest the other girls think she was his girlfriend.
Monday is the five-year anniversary of the day Terrance Williams disappeared -- poof -- vanishing into thin air.
His disappearance, like that of Felipe Santos, who he is regularly paired with in the media, has been difficult on his family, and has been described as a black mark on the Collier County Sheriff’s Office.
The last person known to have seen both Williams and Santos alive is former Collier County sheriff’s Cpl. Steven Calkins, a 17-year veteran who was later fired after he gave inconsistent stories about what happened to Williams during an internal probe.
People close to both cases have long looked suspiciously at Calkins, who has never been arrested because there is no criminal evidence linking him to either disappearance.
The night before he disappeared, Williams, who would be 33 on Jan. 17, attended a party at a home in Bonita Springs with some of his Pizza Hut co-workers. After leaving the party, Williams was last seen in the area of 111th Avenue North and Vanderbilt Drive by Calkins, who said he gave Williams a ride to a Circle K store at U.S. 41 North and Wiggins Pass Road.
Three witnesses told sheriff’s investigators that between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. that morning they saw Calkins wave Williams over near the Naples Memorial Gardens, a North Naples cemetery. Williams was driving a white Cadillac with an expired plate.
Although officials said Williams could have been picked up or cited for six violations, Calkins has said that, instead of taking him to jail, he dropped Williams off at the convenience store where Williams regularly bought cigarettes before heading to work.
He was never heard from or seen again.
Santos disappeared three months before Terrance Williams. Santos, a 23-year-old Mexican laborer, was involved in a minor traffic crash in North Naples, and Calkins was the responding deputy.
Calkins said he gave Santos a ride to a North Naples convenience store as well.
Marcia Williams is loath to criticize the Sheriff’s Office, the agency she is counting on to find out what happened to her son. Still, she questions the treatment that Calkins has received.
But sheriff’s officials say there is no evidence to link Calkins to any wrongdoing involving either Terrance Williams or Santos.
Fox said that if authorities tried to prosecute him today, the case would go nowhere.
In fact, because Calkins was a Sheriff’s Office employee at the time of the disappearances, Fox said they were able to talk to Calkins more than an average citizen, due to a rule, known as the Garrity Rule, that compels officers to participate in internal investigations.
Fox said Terrance Williams’ case is still open and active. Investigators still check to see if he’s been arrested around the country, and two Social Security numbers attached to Williams have been flagged.
But there have been no hits, and there is no evidence that either Social Security number has been used in five years.
Marcia Williams says all four of Terrance Williams’ children, especially his youngest, 8-year-old son, look like him. They ask questions about their father from time to time, she said.
Reply With Quote
5 Member(s) thanked for this post
Originally Posted by Rhoni
Bookmarks