she reveled in it. she loved that man. to this day, i think about that void that is in her life. >> a terrible loss, but the primary victim here in a way seems to be siena. >> 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 hers is not. that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. hello. i am andrea canning and this is dateline. >> was one of the last two

suspect anything. even though you are hopeful, you knew as soon as you picked 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 bow and mike was in and i. >> we thought he had an accident. >> this was hiding more than gators. >> mike was the only hunter who had gone overboard who had never been found. >> something done ahead of. >> there been so many wild stories. >> two lovers share a secret. >> he had this desire to have her. >> there was an affair for years. >> they can choose each other. >> you are waiting for that crack.

>> obviously, she knew what happened to him. >> or choose the truth. >> finally, we will find out what 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 joke they would love to have a mike williams of the room. suddenly, mike disappeared. was it a tragic accident? one of the people believed something more sinister was a play and would stop at nothing to uncover the truth. here is dennis murphy with secrets of lake seminole. lake seminole, one hour outside of the florida state capitol is deep south. fishing and hunting -- fishing and hunting country. the duck hunters are up before dawn. it was in the year 2000

on a december morning, and experienced outdoorsmen named mike williams went duck hunting. it was his sixth wedding anniversary, and there would be a stay at a romantic b&b that evening. the morning hours were his 200. >> that was his outlet. that's what he enjoyed. >> the thing is he never came back. seem to simply vanish. his wife called around the family. it was late afternoon when his brother at the worrying news. >> there was going to be search, already starting at lake seminole. we called a friend of ours and we went together. >> makes coworker kristy. >> mike is very skilled. a skilled hunter and we thought maybe he had an accident. >> is 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 was not in it. his decoys were all in the boat which, of course, thank he never got started hunting. >> what picture came together for you? >> i was like everybody else. worried he might've fallen out. >> mike's buzz. >> brian stood with me and anytime they would come up with a potential hit, brian wilkes and don't want to be here when they find mike. >> man-made lake seminole can be treacherous for boaters. it was a one-time peach orchard. >> at night, they're hard to see. >> a fish and wildlife officer was at the scene. >> you hit a stump and you

could be thrown out easily. >> they did not have a body but there was an early theory among hunters about what might've happened. mike in the predawn hour hit the stump and thrown into the weed filled lake. like most duck hunters he was known to use chest high waders and they can turn deadly. >> they are bulky and like putting two buckets on your legs. you have problems with them filling with water and taking you down. >> what was down there everybody knew were alligators. hard to think of an awful end to a hard-working has been a father like mike williams. the gators got them? >> your hard decision your stomach. the sheer awfulness of it. >> there was a problem with the gator theory. with unusually cold temperatures, fish and wildlife officers knew the alligators were not stirring much.

>> their metabolism is down so low, they don't want to each. they go into hibernation. >> the officer found a hat floating on the water. brian, the best friend, thought it looked familiar. >> he comes to the tent and shows a photograph with mike with that had done. >> surely the hat was is good evidence that mike had an accident and drowned in lake seminole. his coworkers less and kristy felt hopeless. when did you both realize this was it? >> i think we all knew that something had happened. >> after a few weeks passed, we knew that mike was not coming back. >> months went by with no sign of mike, and then in june, something of mike mac did -- the waders. >> waders did not have slime that lake seminole would produce if you put stuff their

three-year four days, they would be slimy. >> they showed no sign of a gator attack. >> we found no indication of bite marks on the waders or any human remains whatsoever. >> traces of mike but nobody. how unusual that was for a leg not to give up its dead. >> mike at that point was the only hunter, fisherman that had gone overboard and that leg that had never been found. >> fish and wildlife officers were confounded. eventually, the case of the missing boater was handed off to sheriff's detectives to investigate. >> i remember telling some of the investigators, you might want to look into this deeper because something do add up. >> one year after mike goes missing, his wife visits the lake for a final good-bye. >> she had a flower with her and she read mike a note. >> there is growing suspicion it was not an accident. >> no.

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dennis murphy: duck hunter mike williams had disappeared on lake seminole, and his wife denise duck hunter mike williams had disappeared on lake seminole and his wife denise was alone with a young daughter to raise. their story began as high school sweethearts. he the football star and student council president and

she the cheerleader and homecoming queen. patty, the wife of mike's boss got to know them both. impressions of her? >> this nice, delightful. absolutely delightful. >> after attending a private christian high school, they graduated from florida state university and got married. their baby girl was born on mother's day. denise was a cpa. mike had become an ace real estate appraiser in his hometown tallahassee. his boss clay was amazed despite the 15 hour days mike put in, he always made time to take care of the home front. >> he made sure dinner was ready. laundry got going. >> he is mr. mom. >> he was mr. mom. we all said we wanted to be married to mike williams. >> his coworkers took mischievous delight wondering what denise had in store for him when she called him in the office. >> i'm across the street.

get my gas. >> i guess denise needs gas. >> now, with mike gone, denise would be the sole provider for their young daughter. fortunately, mike had hefty insurance policies. >> you have a small child and a way to take care of, sure. you need to get insurance. >> brian's and insurance broker helped denise navigate the claims process. for as long as most could remember, denise and mike and brian and his wife had been couples together. they all attended the private christian high school. married their high school sweethearts and had children about the same time. then came lake seminole. after a year had gone by since mike disappeared, denise asked patty to take her to the lake. >> she told me how she had been going to a christian counselor and he encouraged her to do this. she had a flower with her and

written mike a note. i guess, probably 30 or 40 minutes later, she came back and she had been crying. >> the flower in the letter? >> those were left at the lake. >> gone but not forgotten according to becky, denise's friend and coworker. >> she loved him the way you would love a partner or soulmate. >> the official the certificate said mike drowned while duck hunting. for mike's family and friends, doubt started creeping and spurred on by little things that did not had a. the waders found six months after he disappeared. they looked almost pristine. >> no. something is wrong. >> stage? >> i thought stage because anything left in a lakewood have lg on it. >> speculation gave way to suspicion. could mike's disappearance be the result of foul play? enter the squeaky list of squeaky wheels. mike williams brother who was

not buying the official store that mike had experienced an accident on the lake. >> mike is not in lake seminole. he did not drown. he did not get eaten by alligators. >> some called cheryl williams with their pigtails eccentric, even crazy. she demanded answers appealing to the media and when she didn't get results, she opened her purse and spent money she really could not afford. >> i take out an ad in the tallahassee democrat, and i asked the public to help me find my son. >> earnings from the day care center she operated out of her home. >> you have to change a lot of diapers to pay for and add that expensive. it got publicity. >> some of the day cantor kids now grown remember making a missing person poster. >> i was only six years old

when mike went missing. i remember somebody would draw out mike's name and missing and we would fill in with a black sharpie. >> ms. cheryl was a one-woman campaign. she wrote letters to the governor every day for years. 2600 and all and she paid for billboards and stood outside churches with posters. >> the ministers would get mad because i was outside their church. why don't you leave? >> cheryl did not. you were getting a reputation as this pate lady with the pigtails out there with her signs. the billboards and letters to the editor. >> everybody called me crazy. >> not everybody. police began to take her seriously after years of her struggling to draw attention to mike's case. >> she is a straight shooter. she tells it like it is. >> will is an agent with the

florida department of law enforcement. a top cop agency was statewide jurisdiction. four years after mike went missing, they agreed to take the case. >> if it was not for miss cheryl, this case would never have gotten into the hands of criminal investigators. >> mike's widow denise did not appreciate what cheryl was doing. >> she is upset because she and her daddy said it was an invasion of their privacy. >> denise's friend becky said she told cheryl to stop the noise because it was confusing her daughter. >> mrs. williams had strong feelings that mike was still alive. 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. >> 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. >> she followed through with

their promise. >> and your granddaughter is gone. >> totally gone out of my life. but i could not stop. i had to find out what happened to mike. >> that stalemate between cheryl and denise held fast as years went by. in time, denise williams began dating and thinking of marriage with one of her suitors. soon, the rumor mill would be abuzz with a more sensational take of denise's love life. >> coming up. >> we find out she's dating brian winchester. >> shocking to some and suspicious to others. >> it is so creepy. to actively repair acid weakened enamel. i recommend pronamel repair. with new pronamel repair mouthwash you can enhance that repair beyond brushing. they work great together.

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so clearly you. dennis murphy: duck seasons came and went as the years rolled by. long after mike williams's ill-fated hunting trip, duck season's came and went as years rolled by. long after mike williams ill- fated hunting trip, denise was working with the state as an accountant. a young widow raising her young daughter. she started dating and one day there was a new man in her life. someone with a familiar name. >> all of a sudden we find out she's dating brian winchester. >> brian his best friend and fishing buddy. since her days in high school and beyond, brian and his wife kathy had gotten a divorce. friend becky said brian was not to release his first relationship after mike. >> denise dated other people.

>> she did not fly into his arms. >> she had reservations and he had to prove himself. >> this was a juicy tidbit. mike's best friend hooking up with a widow with a man who disappeared. it didn't take the court of public opinion to do the math. could brian have had anything to do with mike's disappearance? and what did denise know? coffeeshop conspiracies took wing when five years after mike's disappearance, brian mary denise. mike's old boss and his wife were invited to the wedding. they had heard the rumors too. >> the minister said there is nothing that i do not know between the two of them and patty and i punched each other in the ribs and said, well, there might be one little piece of information he is not aware of. >> brian moved into the same as mike and denise lived in together and began raising

mike's daughter. >> what bothered me the most was they stayed in mike's house. >> raising the child. >> raising that child and that role of -- >> takes over his life. >> it so creepy. >> percheron a cooperated long- running suspicions that she worked -- she kept a detailed notebook about mike's disappearance and brian anthony's are filling more and more pages in it. she alerted an investigator about her suspicions and shared a 27 page summary of her notes. >> she was a good source of information and she was a bulldog in this. >> like this id. she noted. remember the insurance policies mike bought? they were worth $1.75 million and it was brian who access old mike a large part of them. those waders that surfaced were used by denise's lawyer as evidence to declare mike did in

seven months so she could collect her money. >> it's better than icing on the cake if one of your goals is to get the woman, you also get the money. >> that was all i needed to know. >> but the authorities needed more than gossip. an investigator for the prosecutors office worked the case for 10 long years. are suspicions getting grounded in the relationship between denise and brian are the money trail? >> it was all of it. you start looking at the odd fact the body never floated. the waders popping up. the money. >> the investigators kept their eyes on the married couple, brian anthony's invited their time. if either one was harboring a secret involving foul play, eventually might have a corrosive effect on the relationship. >> they are not going to turn on each other while they are married, but you wait for things to flare up. >> 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. the marriage was finished at that point? >> i would say so. >> in 2016, brian did something that nearly ended badly for denise. the wild episode started as denise got in her car to go to work. hiding in the backseat, brian popped up, shoved a gun in the 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 would nato police, but after brian left, she did report her abduction. denise said and unhinge brian upset about the divorce even threatened to take his own life. little did she know that in an adjoining room, an fdle agent was listening. as denise relive the horror of the day, little did she know in

an adjoining room, and fdle agent was listening. he wasn't interested in a domestic quarrel. he wanted to know about mike's disappearance and what brian had to do with it. and what denise might know. denise is already bad day was about to get infinitely worse. >> coming up. >> where do you think mike is buried? >> so many secrets. what was the truth? mpanies target people like me with their menthol cigarette marketing. realizing this made me angry enough to quit. my tip is, this should make everyone angry. (announcer) you can quit. call 1-800-quit-now for help getting free medication. oooh! i can't wait for this family getaway! shingles doesn't care. shingles is a painful, blistering rash that can last for weeks. ahhh, there's nothing like a day out with friends.

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we are hours away from opening statements in the hush money trial of former president trump. the prosecution will begin to lay out its case against mr. trump after the jury was seated last week. congresswoman marjorie taylor greene said she is continuing with their efforts to oust house speaker mike

johnson. it comes after the house passed the foreign aid package this weekend which johnson pushed through the chamber. ugh the ch. it had been more than a decade since mike williams vanished. welcome back to dateline. i am a 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 up our. denise ran to police but they had something else they wanted to discuss. back to dennis murphy with secrets of lake seminole. denise williams had been carjacked at gunpoint by her estranged husband brian winchester. now, she was sitting in a

police interboro room giving her version of the abduction. police believe brian was not going to kill just himself. especially after denise told them he brought along a tarpon bleach along with the gun. >> denise, he was going to kill you. he brought that to cover his tracks. >> for years police believe brian and denise were the -- 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. >> i'm sure at one point he told you something. i'm telling you. he killed mike. >> the detective pressed her asking denise if she knew the man she married.

mike devaney, the fdle lead agent, couldn't believe denise was finally being questioned >> mike, the fdle lead agent could not believe denise was finally being questioned about what happened to mike. >> fdle agents approached brian and denise on one occasion. they both refused to talk. they went straight to an attorney and that was that. >> he waited a long time for this moment. now, it was his turn to find out what denise knew. denise tried to steer the interview back to the kidnapping. >> denise tried to steer the interview to the kidnapping. e.

>> he kept pushing telling denise if she did not talk, he might get the story from someone else. for now, the mystery of mike's disappearance remained just that. for now, the mystery of mike's disappearance remained that. but, brian was arrested and charged with kidnapping denise. he pleaded not guilty to those charges. a year later, he changed his plea to no contest. >> it comes down to my life or his. i am asking you please -- >> at sentencing, denise appealed to the judge to give him a life sentence. >> he will finish what he started no matter what age he

is when released. i am asking you to sentence him to life in prison for the crimes he committed. >> in the end, the judge gave brian winchester 20 years. and court, nothing had been said about mike williams. >> when they shuffled him off we walked up and i looked at patty and said that's it. the door has been slammed down whatever happened to mike and we will never know. >> the next day, fdle had a major announcement. they had found a skeletal body in a shallow grave. >> the human remains are those of mike williams. >> after all those years, it was over. speculation was that brian had led them to it. >> further analysis concluded that mike williams was in fact murdered. >> his but he was not and lake seminole. it was 50 miles away, back in tallahassee of a dead-end road by another swampy lake. >> i said he can't be dead. he can't be. they said, it is mike.

i said, you know that?. they said they did the dna. >> i saw her tear up when the death notification was provided to her that mike williams remains had been identified and located. >> you would think with the recovery of the body, murder charges would be filed forthwith, but that did not happen. detectives continue 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 our office at florida state university. she was charged with first- degree murder of her first husband, mike. it was her daughter's 19th birthday. they said she confide with brian winchester to kill his best friend, mike. she pleaded not guilty. but, denise was the only one charged. what about brighton?

>> they told us they had to make a deal with the devil. >> some called it the deal of the century. >> they wanted information of what happened to mike. where the body was. >> his attorney said prosecutors had but one priority. to find mike's body. >> they never said you have to give any evidence against denise. >> in exchange for his testimony against denise, brian got 20 years for the kidnapping and would not face murder charges. >> the state of florida versus denise williams. >> 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 up at the witness box. >> did you suspect brian winchester your husband was having an affair with denise

williams? >> i did suspect that. >> 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 said denise tried to involve her in a cover up after brian's arrest. >> get a message to brian that i am not talking. >> but those witnesses were merely the side dishes to the main course. the mesmerizing confession of brian winchester. it was a stunning story of betrayals. a white betraying her husband. her lover betraying his best friend. and a confession from the stand you will never be able to on here. >> coming up, after so many years, finally, the truth. >> we wanted to be together and we were not going to let anything stop that. >> when dateline continues. make a video of yourself...

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dennis murphy: denise williams was standing trial for first degree murder, conspiring in the death denise williams was standing trial for first-degree murder. conspiring in the death of her first husband mike. who was she accused of conspiring with? her now ex-husband number 2 and mike's best friend, brian winchester. he would be the state star witness against her, required to testify at every grisly detail.

the prosecutors knew their star witness came with some baggage. you have to worry whether the jury will hate your star witness, brian? >> there was no question they would hate him. that was obvious. we hate them -- we hate him. >> 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. >> brian said he and denise were lovers three years before mike had been murder. >> the more we were together the more we wanted to be together. >> with in two years, denise and brian were plotting mike's so-called an accident on lake seminole. >> i think we were even talking it would be up to god what happens. it will not be a murder but an accident. >> to most divorce would've

been a better solution, but brent said denise, a devout christian, did not want to enter the stigma. >> because of the way she was raised in her pride, guess she didn't want to get divorced. we wanted to be together. we weren't going to let anything stop that. >> better to be a killer than a divorce? >> a widow get sympathy and she gets $1.75 million. >> the weekend of the wedding anniversary became d-day. brian testified mike was not hunting alone. he was a long is the early morning duck hunting buddy. they pushed off. the plan was to make it look like might drowned in a boating accident. the murder weapon would be mike's waders. >> we believe if you fell overboard with waders on, you would sing pretty quickly. we got to the area 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 struggling. i pulled off just a little bit to get kind of away from him so he could not reach back into the boat. i didn't know at the time, i did not know if he was trying to swim or -- i didn't know what was going on but what i came to find out eventually realized he was taking the waders and jacket off. >> mike made it to a tree stump and clung for dear life. that's one brian decided to change the plan. >> he was panicking and i was panicking. none of this was going well. he started to yell. and so, i had my gun in the boat

, and i loaded my gun, and i made 12 circles around. i ended up circling closer towards him and he was in the water and as i passed by, i shot him. >> where did you shoot him? >> in the head >> buckshot -- x-ray show buckshot through the head. as details emerge, cheryl struck another blow. >> what's hard is what i found out in court is how he was murder. they told me the only consolation i could have was

that michael did not feel it. he was dead immediately. >> brian said after blasting mike with his 12gauge, he grabbed his body and steered the boat to shore. >> i pushed the boat back into the water to make it look like he had drowned or disappear. >> onshore, he stopped mike's body in a dog crate in the back of his truck and drove back to tallahassee we 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. my dad wanted to look [ crying ] i think we were the last ones on the lake. my dad did not want to give up. my dad loved mike. >> with no body found in the

lake, brian testified they grew concerned about the rather incentive to murder mike. >> the concern between she and i then became well, if his body is not found, what will happen with the life insurance? >> brian admitted to staging the -- found 10 days after the search. >> i was of one that put it in the water during one of my searches on the lake to kind of confirm he had drowned. >> for the next 16 years, brian said he and denise kept a mafia like oath of silence. in his testimony, this story of taking his best friend out and killing him? >> there's so much emotion tied and that. i've heard the story so many times and i still feel emotion. the jurors are engrossed in what he saying and waiting for the next line. they are seeing someone laying their soul bear and throwing everything out there. >> it was strong emotional

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welcome back. denise williams was on trial for the murder of her first husband mike. diwelcome 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 swinging. the convicted felons credibility would be their number 1 target. here is dennis murphy with the conclusion of secrets of lake seminole. >> the prosecution case would live or die by its star witness. would jurors believe brian winchester? does it come to a matter of jurors, it is he said, she said. pick one. >> yes. >> who do you believe? >> i believe her.

>> brian's account of murdering his best friend in a plot with mike's wife was an award worthing performance. compelling if you are a sucker for crocodile tears. >> is a well rehearsed, well- trained, well-timed liar. >> denise's defense -- lone wolf. >> he coveted denise. he had this desire to have her. >> the defense that he was the only killer and she had nothing to do with his craziness. and cross examination the defense wanted jurors to see the brian's only goal was to save his own bacon implicating denise. and for his efforts, he was a charge with murder and got 20 years in prison for kidnapping her. >> he got to jail on august 5, 2016, on the charges of armed kidnapping. you didn't go to law enforcement and volunteer the details of the mike williams murder, did you?

>> absolutely not. >> while you were in jail you decided to 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 i could to avoid going to prison. >> like having a discussion with one end who wanted to kill denise and others to lie in his kidnapping case. >> he did offer to make denise go away and make other witnesses in the case go away. i said, don't ever speak to me of that again. >> you were drawing the line of having witnesses eliminated. >> yes, sir. >> you are not drawing the line of having evidence fabricated. >> 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 also gets a revenge element. denise turn to him in. if denise williams was involved

in the murder in any way, why would she take the one person that can incriminate her and turner went to law enforcement and have him locked up? >> as for the actual murder, the defense get brian to admit that it was he and he alone pulling the trigger. denise was at home in tallahassee with the baby. >> when you shop mike williams with a 12gauge shotgun was denise williams there with you? >> no she wasn't. she was in my head. >> over the years you have been obsessed with denise williams? >> obsessed? denise and i were best friends. we were bonnie and clyde and partners in crime. >> why the defense asked was his body in the dark about what happened at the lake? >> denise williams had no idea you shot her husband? >> correct. i tried to tell her one day and she did not want to know the

details. she told me she assumed that what we had planned did not happen and god was going to forgive us. >> the defense attorney get brian to tell jurors exactly why they should not leave him. >> you're a murderer. >> yes, sir. >> you are a liar. >> yes, sir. >> you got him to say yes to both of those. >> in 20 years, i have never had a witness say they are a liar. >> and his final remarks to the jury, the attorney argued if you exclude brian's lying testimony, you are left for nothing forensically, evidentially, tying denise to the murder. >> this case is only about brian winchester. only about him killing mike williams. only about him doing the most heinous thing that can be done. >> in closing remarks, the prosecutor pointed to denise. >> that one person sat here and

listened to brian winchester describe how he had shot and killed her husband, the man she supposedly loved and cherished , absolute stone face. didn't bat an eye. did not shed a tear. >> with that, the jury had the case. remember, a point easy to lose sight of that it was denise on trial for murder. did you feel good about things? >> i was feeling pretty confident. i was not 100% sure. we didn't have a slam dunk case. >> there is no evidence or proof. she did nothing wrong. >> she has the story told by the ex-husband. >> exactly. >> about eight hours into deliberation, a verdict. cheryl waited 18 years for this moment. >> the state of florida versus denise williams. >> cheryl's jaw dropped when

she heard the decision. >> we, the jury,, first-degree murder. >> guilty on all counts. what's going on with you? >> we got justice for mike. this was about justice for mike. he loved denise. his wedding ring was on his and when they found his remains. >> the murder convention 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, three-judge appellate court throughout 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. denise williams remains in prison. >> this is an important day. it's an nurser bursary day. >> yes, sir.

it's the 18th anniversary of mike's disappearance. now that i know it's his murder. >> what did you learn about yourself? >> i believe and what's right and i will stand up and fight for that. >> 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 is strange granddaughter back to the family. the 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 is all for this edition of dateline. i am andrea canning. thank you for watching. hello, i am andrea canning and this is dateline.