When Mike Williams disappeared on December 16, 2000, searchers had a boat and a vehicle to start with. Mike had gone duck hunting at Lake Seminole. A man could fall out of a boat there. The equipment gave people a place to look for him, and for years the search made sense as an effort to find a hunter who’d drowned. [1] [2]
Mike had gone out with his friend Brian Winchester, Winchester eventually testified. By the time a jury heard him say that, investigators had found Mike’s remains and brought a case against his wife, Denise. The jury convicted her of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. On appeal, the two convictions went different ways. [1] [2] [4]
Michael Rivera · Image source · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Geographic context; not authentic crime evidence. The building or landscape is public geographic context; no event is assigned to it.
What was supposed to happen on the lake
Winchester said he’d been having an affair with Denise and that they had talked about killing Mike. Life insurance and the prospect of a life together figured in the conversations he described. They discussed making Mike’s death look like a hunting accident. An earlier date in December passed without a killing. [1]
On December 16, Winchester testified, he pushed Mike into the water, expecting the waders to weigh him down. Mike got out of them, swam to a tree trunk and called for help. Winchester said he shot him and hid his body. That account came from the man who said he’d carried it out. [1]
Urbantallahassee · Image source · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Geographic context; not authentic crime evidence. The building or landscape is public geographic context; no event is assigned to it.
A search with somewhere else to look
Winchester and Denise married after Mike disappeared. In 2016 Winchester kidnapped her, a separate crime for which he received a prison sentence. He later gave investigators information about Mike under an immunity arrangement relating to the death. In December 2017, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced that remains had been identified as Mike’s. Searchers had spent years with the things he’d taken hunting. Investigators could finally say they’d found him. [1] [2]
Michael Rivera · Image source · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Geographic context; not authentic crime evidence. The building or landscape is public geographic context; no event is assigned to it.
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What Denise had agreed to do
Jurors heard Winchester describe the discussions and saw evidence about Mike’s insurance. Florida’s First District Court of Appeal concluded there was enough for jurors to find an agreement to kill him. That was the conspiracy. [1] [4]
The murder charge required evidence that Denise acted or spoke to help bring about the killing Winchester carried out. The appeals court found the evidence insufficient under that theory. It reversed the murder conviction and let the conspiracy conviction stand. In 2021, Denise received a thirty-year sentence on the surviving count. [1] [3] [4]
Case brief
Lake Seminole and Tallahassee, Florida · 2000
- Recorded outcome
- Denise Williams’s murder conviction was reversed in 2020, and the substituted March 2021 opinion preserved that result and affirmed conspiracy. The Florida Supreme Court denied review in June 2021. She was resentenced to 30 years on the surviving count in September 2021.
Key moments
People in this case
- Mike Williams
Murder victim
Photo at source · CBS News · Tallahassee Democrat photograph 
Denise Williams Conspiracy conviction upheld; first-degree murder conviction reversed
Corrections photograph · Florida Department of Corrections · U.S. public domain
Brian Winchester Admitted killing Mike; convicted in a separate kidnapping case
Corrections photograph · Florida Department of Corrections · U.S. public domain
Look closer · 9 visuals
Inside the evidence.
Open a visual to explore what it contributed to the case—and the limits of what it shows. Photographs, historical reproductions and original illustrations are individually labeled. Open the notes for each image’s source, credit, and limitations; setting photographs do not depict crime scenes.
Boat, vehicle and missing person
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
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The early evidence fit a search for a missing hunter.
It did not establish drowning or a wildlife encounter.
The insurance evidence
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
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The policies gave context to testimony about an agreement.
Financial benefit alone does not establish a plot.
Plan versus conduct
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
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Winchester’s account put the shooting outside the original plan.
The state still had to prove Denise’s legal participation.
Identification of the remains
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
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The recovery allowed investigators to identify Mike.
Identity is separate from proof of another person’s conduct.
The separate kidnapping
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
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The kidnapping put Winchester in a different relationship with authorities.
His kidnapping sentence was not for Mike’s murder.
The appeal split the verdicts
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
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The appeals court assessed each count separately.
The murder conviction cannot be cited as standing.
Lake Seminole in Jackson County, Florida
Context photograph — not an actual crime exhibit. The building or landscape is public geographic context; no event is assigned to it.
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Lake Seminole in Jackson County, Florida. Geographic context photograph; not a crime-scene photograph or an original evidence exhibit. The building or landscape is public geographic context; no event is assigned to it.
Geographic context; not authentic crime evidence. The building or landscape is public geographic context; no event is assigned to it. The source and reuse terms are linked below.
Michael Rivera · Image source · CC BY-SA 4.0
Tallahassee skyline in 2023
Context photograph — not an actual crime exhibit. The building or landscape is public geographic context; no event is assigned to it.
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Tallahassee skyline in 2023. Geographic context photograph; not a crime-scene photograph or an original evidence exhibit. The building or landscape is public geographic context; no event is assigned to it.
Geographic context; not authentic crime evidence. The building or landscape is public geographic context; no event is assigned to it. The source and reuse terms are linked below.
Urbantallahassee · Image source · CC BY-SA 4.0
Leon County Courthouse in Tallahassee
Context photograph — not an actual crime exhibit. The building or landscape is public geographic context; no event is assigned to it.
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Leon County Courthouse in Tallahassee. Geographic context photograph; not a crime-scene photograph or an original evidence exhibit. The building or landscape is public geographic context; no event is assigned to it.
Geographic context; not authentic crime evidence. The building or landscape is public geographic context; no event is assigned to it. The source and reuse terms are linked below.
Michael Rivera · Image source · CC BY-SA 3.0
★ Key evidence used in a conviction · ✓ Exclusion or reversal · ◇ Disputed evidence · ⊘ Excluded at retrial · ◆ Identity / investigative finding, not a conviction. A symbol does not mean one item proved the whole case.
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Put the story on the map.
Follow the dated entries, then select an event to find its regional setting. Shared-location pins open a group of events. Evidence symbols identify important findings and their limitations.
Open the map in its own window ↗Sources & further reading
- Williams v. State · Florida First District Court of AppealTrial testimony, evidence, separate counts and partial reversal.
- Florida Department of Law Enforcement · Mike Williams investigation updatePublic identification of the recovered remains.
- Associated Press reporting on resentencingThirty-year term for the surviving conspiracy count.
- Williams v. State, No. 1D19-498 — substituted Florida First District opinionReplaces the November 2020 opinion, reversing principal-to-murder and affirming conspiracy.
- State v. Denise Williams, 2018 CF 001592 A001 — Leon County Clerk docketThe case docket records denial of review in Florida Supreme Court case SC21-587.
Editorial review: 2026-11-12 · 404 words