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1996 Raleigh murders - John Williams Jr · Murder Files Unsealed

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Rully's Warehouse district. You say that, now you probably think
• 0:03
  what trendy restaurants, bars, maybe a concerted at red hat Amphitheater.
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  But like, close your eyes for a second, rewind about
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  thirty years. We're going back to the late nineties when
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  this same spot it was all gritty streets, vacant buildings,
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  you know, and it was the backdrop for these murders,
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  a whole series of them that really shook the city.
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  So are you ready to do a deep dive into
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  some seriously chilling true crime.
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  Speaker 2: What always gets me about cases like this is how
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  they get under your skin. You know. It's not just
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  about who did it, but that feeling, that atmosphere of
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  dread that just takes over everything. And the source material
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  we've got these old news articles from back then. They
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  give us this raw, unfiltered look at how that fear
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  like took hold of the city.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, totally. It's like we're right there with them, reading
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  the headlines as they come out. Yeah, and this story
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  it starts well, the way these often do, with something
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  really tragic.
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  Speaker 2: That connects the victims and that common thread. It's tragic,
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  but it points to something we see a lot in
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  these cases serial killers, they often target people they see
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  as vulnerable, people who live on the edges of society,
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  who might not get as much attention from the public,
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  at least not right away.
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  Speaker 1: Six black women murdered in Raleigh in ninety six. The
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  articles I shared, they mentioned drugs, sex work being part
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  of some of their lives, and while as part of
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  the story, we can't let those details overshadow the fact
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  that these were lives that were taken.
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  Speaker 2: You're right, these were people with families, friends, coworkers. To
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  really get the impact of these crimes, we have to
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  see them as individuals.
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  Speaker 1: There are two cases especially that really stuck with me
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  as I was reading. First, there's Patricia ash found murdered
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  January of ninety six. They found her body on a bench,
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  and man, even reading these reports now years later, it's
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  still so brutal, the way your body was left, the
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  signs of a struggle. Can you imagine being the one
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  who found her.
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  Speaker 2: It's a chilling thought, that discovery. It must have been
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  a turning point in the investigation that first victim. It
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  often reveals the killer's m O, their signature. Those details,
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  as awful as they they are, they become crucial clues.
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  Speaker 1: And then there's Debora Jean Elliott her disappearance right before
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  Christmas ninety six. That one really hit the community hard. Deborrah,
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  she was a hard worker, had a job at McDonald's,
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  three kids, getting ready for the holidays, but instead of
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  celebrating with her family, she her body was found at
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  that old Pine State creamerybuilding. That place is a popular
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  restaurant now, but back then it was a crime scene.
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  And reading what her coworkers said about her, how kind
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  she was, how she was friends with everyone, it just
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  hits you in the gut. You know, the human cost
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  of these crimes.
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  Speaker 2: It's that contrast that's so important Debra's life. It challenges
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  the stereotypes people might have. She was a mother, a coworker,
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  a friend, someone who has loved, who people wanted to
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  see again. Her murder made it real for everyone. It
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  showed that anyone could become a target.
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  Speaker 1: Did the articles say if the police thought these cases
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  were connected right away or was there a while where
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  they weren't sure if it was one.
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  Speaker 2: Guy or there was a lot of uncertainty at first,
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  and that unknown not having a face to the evil
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  lurking around. That's what really gets to people. It eats
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  away at a community.
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  Speaker 1: Oh yeah. The articles definitely capture that feeling that something
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  was wrong. People in walnut Terrace, where some of the
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  victims lived, they talked about being scared to even leave
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  their homes. One resident, Sharon McLean, she said something like,
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  it's just fear in my.
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  Speaker 2: Heart, and that fear is completely understandable. It's a natural
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  reaction when you feel threatened, when you know someone out
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  there is capable of such horrible things.
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  Speaker 1: Right, and with every new victim, every unanswered question, that
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  fear just grows, doesn't it.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, The unknown creates anxiety, and in these kinds of cases,
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  it's not just about catching the killer, but also about
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  restoring a sense of safety, helping people believe that the
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  world isn't inherently a dangerous and unpredictable place.
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  Speaker 1: With the whole city on edge like that, the pressure
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  on the police must been immense. What do they do?
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  Speaker 2: They put everything they had into it. Fifty four investigators,
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  they ramped up patrols, you name it. Chief Brown was
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  all over the news trying to reassure people that they
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  were doing everything they could catch this guy.
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  Speaker 1: They're looking into similar crimes in other places too, right,
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  like they thought this might be bigger than just Raleigh.
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  Speaker 2: That's right. The articles mention that. Imagine what it was
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  like for them trying to track down this killer. It
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  must have felt like chasing a ghost. And with every
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  dead end that fear in the city, it just kept growing.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, like in those true crime documentaries we
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  all love, sometimes these big investigations, they all hand on
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  one lucky break, you know what I mean.
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  Speaker 2: It's like fate steps in something that seems small, totally random,
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  ends up unraveling this whole thing.
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  Speaker 1: And let me tell you they caught a break in
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  this case. February ninety seven, months after Deborah Elliott's murder,
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  a woman named Shelley Jackson. She has this encounter could
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  have been another tragedy, but instead it blows the whole
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  case wide open.
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  Speaker 2: See this is what we were talking about before, that
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  pattern for these kinds of predators, opportunity, It often leads
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  to more violence. One horrible act leads to the next.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so picture this. Shelley Jackson's at this convenience store
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  right near Moore Square. Today that area's pretty busy, but
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  back then probably kind of deserted. After dark. She meets
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  this guy, John Williams Junior for the first time. He
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  offers her drugs, tries to lure her to an abandoned lot.
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  They get into this beat up truck he's driving, and well,
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  that's when everything goes wrong.
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  Speaker 2: That location it's important, you know. It suggests he was
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  thinking ahead, deliberately picking these isolated places where a victim
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  wouldn't be found, nobody could hear her cries for help.
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  Speaker 1: It's crazy some of the details from these articles. They
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  really suck with me. That ask store, the abandoned lot,
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  the old truck. It's like, suddenly they're not just places,
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  you know, They're part of this whole dark story.
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  Speaker 2: They become like characters in a way, these rundown places,
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  silently witnessing these awful acts.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so Jackson's trapped in that truck with Williams fighting
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  him off, hurt. Then and this is like something out
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  of a movie. A police car just randomly driving by.
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  She sees her chance, breaks free, runs towards the car, screaming,
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  covered in blood. Talk about being in the right place
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  at the right time, And we can't.
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  Speaker 2: Forget about Sergeant Earnhardt, the officer in that car. He
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  was alert, hurt her cries, didn't ignore them, acted quickly,
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  that split second decision. It probably saved her life totally.
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  Speaker 1: And once Williams is in custody, things start to move fast.
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  They have Jackson's statement, physical evidence, the box cutter blood Williams.
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  They say he's this thirty five year old drifter from Augusta,
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  Georgia originally, and it's crazy right Jackson's attack. As awful
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  as it was, it ends up being the break they
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  needed to get justice for those other women.
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  Speaker 2: It was like a damn breaking that arrest. It seemed
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  to give other people the courage to come forward with
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  their own stories. You see this a lot in these cases.
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  The first arrest can have a domino effect.
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  Speaker 1: A month later, March ninety seven, they officially charged Williams
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  with Patricia Ash's murder. They matched his shoeprint found on
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  some broken glass at the scene, then the DNA evidence
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  from her autoxy It's undeniable.
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  Speaker 2: Science doesn't lie in cases like this where witnesses might
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  be you know, not reliable, or there aren't many forensic evidence,
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  it becomes the foundation the whole case. Did they say
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  how long it took to connect Williams to Deborah Elliott's
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  murder not long at all.
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  Speaker 1: Remember how I mentioned they found her body at that
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  old Pine Steek creamery. They found more of William's shoe
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  prints there too, and with witnesses other evidence, they had
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  enough to charge him with her murder as well.
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  Speaker 2: This is where criminal profiling it would have been really key,
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  you know, looking at those crime scenes, why those specific victims,
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  trying to find any patterns on the way he attacked them.
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  It helps investigators understand the why, not just the what.
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  Did they talk about any psychological evaluations of Williams in
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  the articles.
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  Speaker 1: They didn't go into a ton of detail about his past,
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  but they said investigators thought he was targeting women he
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  met downtown, luring them to these secluded spots where he
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  felt safe doing these horrible things. They even thought he
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  might be involved in the murders of two other women,
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  Don Grandy and Jawana Burt, but they never had enough
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  evidence to charge.
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  Speaker 2: Him, leaving those families with no answers, no real closure.
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  That's got to be one of the hardest things.
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  Speaker 1: That's truly heartbreaking, you know, and it reminds us that
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  even when a case seems solved, there are always loose ends,
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  what ifs, and those questions they stay with you long
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  after the trial's over.
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  Speaker 2: Because for the families, it's not just about the legal stuff.
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  It's about trying to make sense of this horrible thing
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  that happened, losing someone they loved in such a terrible way.
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  Speaker 1: So let's talk about the trial. It all went down
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  in ninety eight knowing they could give him the death penalty.
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  Did that change how the lawyers on both sides approached
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  the trial.
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  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, for sure. When the death penalty is on
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  the table, it changes everything. It adds this whole other
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  level of seriousness. Every decision, every word matters so much more.
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  Speaker 1: So, Like, take us inside the courtroom, knowing someone's life
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  is on the line. How does that change the strategy
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  for both sides.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you've got the prosecution right, they have to be
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  extra thorough. It's not enough to just prove guilt. They
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  have to convince the jury that this crime it deserves
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  the absolute harshest punishment. They have to make it clear
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  this isn't just about revenge. It's about keeping society safe.
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  Speaker 1: And for the defense, it's got to be tough. How
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  do you make someone accused of these horrific acts seem human,
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  relatable without excusing what they did exactly.
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  Speaker 2: It's a fine line. They'll often dig into the defendant's past,
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  looking for anything that might make the jury feel some
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  kind of sympathy, some understanding, not to justify the actions,
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  but to explain, you know, how someone gets to that point.
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  Speaker 1: Did they find anything in John Williams Junior's past that
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  gave them any insight into his motives or what was
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  going on in his head.
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  Speaker 2: They did. His lawyers. They presented evidence that he had
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  a really rough childhood, people who knew him. They said
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  he saw his stepfather abusing his sister when he was young.
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  Imagine the trauma of that.
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  Speaker 1: Hearing things like that. It really makes you think about
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  like the ripple effects of violence, how witnessing something that
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  awful can really mess you up.
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  Speaker 2: It's this horrible cycle trauma. It creates more trauma. But
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  presenting that kind of defense in a case like this,
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  so high profile people are so angry, it's a huge risk.
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  Speaker 1: Because even if trauma explains why he did, it doesn't
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  excuse it.
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  Speaker 2: Not really, you're right, and some people reading those articles
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  they felt like Williams's behavior at the trial kind of
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  went against this whole troubled past thing. His lawyers were.
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  Speaker 1: Going for, Oh really, what did he do? What was
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  it about him in the courtroom that rubbed people the
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  wrong way?
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  Speaker 2: Several articles mentioned how restless he was, how he would
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  like grin sometimes it completely inappropriate moments, chilling honestly, and
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  for the victims' families, you know, having to sit there
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  relive everything while he's doing that must have been unbearable.
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  Speaker 1: I can't imagine what it would be like to be
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  like Deborah Elliott's sister listening to all the awful detail,
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  seeing this guy, the one who did it, and he's
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  acting like it's nothing. It's just awful.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, their pain. It's a reminder that, Yeah, the justice
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  system it tries to provide closure, but true healing that's
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  a whole other thing.
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  Speaker 1: So what was the verdict? Guilty on all charges?
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  Speaker 2: Guilty? Weeks of testimony, the jury found Williams guilty of
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  two counts of first degree murder Patricia ash and debor
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  Jean Elliott, and the assault on Shilley Jackson a bunch
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  of other charges too.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, the brutality the evidence they had sounds like
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  a slam dunk for the prosecution.
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  Speaker 2: It was and ultimately the jury they decided to convict
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  not just because the evidence was there, but also because
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  they needed to hold him accountable for what he did.
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  It was about sending a message. They sentenced him to death. Wow,
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  and as of this year, he's still on death row
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  at Central Prison right here in Raleigh's.
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  Speaker 1: Kind of a creepy thought. Yeah, he's still out there.
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  A reminder that some things you never really get over them,
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  which brings us back to where we started write. The
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  warehouse district, all those restaurants in our galleries.
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  Speaker 2: Now it's almost like the cities trying to move on,
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  cover up the bad memories with shiny new buildings. But
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  the past it has a way of sticking around.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it does. Those cobblestone streets, all those renovated buildings.
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  Even when you're out there having a good time, there's
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  this echo of what happened, the lives that were lost,
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  the families forever changed by it, and that fear that
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  gripped the city.
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  Speaker 2: It makes you think the places we live, they're more
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  than just buildings, right, They hold all these stories, some happy,
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  some tragic. We can't change the past, but we can
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  learn from it. Remembering those we've lost telling their stories.
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  That's how we make sure they aren't forgotten.
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  Speaker 1: This deep dive into Raleigh's dark side. It's been fascinating
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  but really heavy too. Thanks for coming along with me
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  and everyone listening. The next time you're in the Warehouse district,
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  take a minute to think about Patricia Ash and deborg
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  and Elliott. There are stories. They're part of Roley's story,
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  and they deserve to be remembered.