Reward for info on man missing

Published 9:38 pm Thursday, October 25, 2018

Wanda King believes her son’s bones are in a creek off Felix-Sartin Road.

She goes there, down in the pines in the southern tip of Lawrence County, to look for him. She has walked down below the bridge, sunk her fingers in the mud. She drank that nameless water, slow and green and sandy, searching for his spirit.

“I feel my son in that creek,” said King, 54. “I know he’s out there.”

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Glenn Calvin Williams was 31 years old when he made three 911 calls from the area on July 24, 2015, and disappeared. Deputies and dogs, and even King, have searched and sniffed and tasted the woods out there, hoping for a sign of Williams’ passing, but three years of searching have turned up just a few false hopes. There are no leads, no evidence, no traces, and the one witness who gave a statement back then is now in Kottenai County, Idaho, not far from Canada, in jail for theft.

But somebody, somewhere, knows something.

Lawrence County Sheriff Lessie Butler is hoping somebody will come forward, even if it’s anonymously, with information that can lead investigators to Williams or his remains now that the Hattiesburg-area Metro Crime Stoppers is offering a $1,000 reward for good tips.

“We want to find a way to get some information, because what we’ve done so far hasn’t brought closure,” Butler said. “Looking at the investigative file, there’s a lot of confusion. This is a way for the public to get involved.”

Butler said the confusion started when Williams, from Foxworth in Marion County, wandered into Lawrence County on a day trip with then-girlfriend Patricia Dickerson. According to investigators, Dickerson admitted she and Williams had taken drugs on the ride.

At some point the couple ended up on Felix-Sartin Road and got into argument. Williams got out of the car, got onto the car, fell off the car, was hit by the car or some combination of those events that ended with him allegedly running off, into the woods, and a frustrated Dickerson leaving him behind.

Dickerson told interviewers in August 2015 Williams suffered from bi-polar disorder and had hallucinations.

Williams called 911 three times and told dispatchers he needed help, asking them to send an ambulance. But no ambulance was sent because Williams didn’t know where he was. The call originally went to Walthall County, but was bounced back to Marion County. The Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office ultimately ended up with the case because Williams’ location was determined to be inside the county line.

Williams was never found. Butler said cadaver dogs ran the area three times and hit on at least one location, but searchers found nothing. The dogs found some remains in June this year and King thought the search was over, but it wasn’t her son.

“I saw him at the store on July 23. I had just gotten off work. I asked him what he was up to, and he said he’d just stopped to get some chips and a drink. He acted like something was bothering him,” King said. “I said, ‘well, Momma’s tired. I’m fixin’ to go home.’ He got in his car and left, and I never saw him again. I’ve done lost all my hope.”

Butler said search dogs can sweep the area again, and he’s considering calling up a dive team to search the creek bottom. But first, he’s hoping for information from the community.

“If we can get some tips coming in, we’ll stand a lot better chance of finding some answers,” he said. “If we don’t have something solid to go on, I don’t want to see those resources wasted. I’d love to take those teams down there one time and find what we’re looking for.”

Diane James, executive director of Metro Crime Stoppers, said anyone with information should call her group at 601-582-7867, or use the tip website p3tips.com. Both the line and the website allow anonymous use, she said — the tip site does not record IP addresses that can be traced back to a tipster’s computer.

In addition to anonymity, the p3 website allows law enforcement to communicate with the tipster and ask followup questions. James said tipsters who provide good information are given an authorization code that can be redeemed for tax-free reward at any bank, and that transaction is anonymous, too.

“We have some cash money we want to spread around,” she said. “Mrs. King deserves someone to come forward and give her peace, so she can lay her son to rest. We’re hoping this money will make people talk to us.”